The Lonely Demon
by LilyAllycia
Summary: Tia was a normal girl. Untill she venertured into the forest. Now, 5 years later, she's been dubbed 'she-demon' and feared by the villagers, even her own parents don't seem to reconize her. That is, untill a group of pirates show up. Rated T for language and blood in later chapters. There are no pairings as of yet.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, everyone. This is my first fanfic. If you think I should keep going with this, then please say so. Also, since this is my first fanfic please be nice when commenting. If you want to tell me of a grammer or spelling mistake, please do so. **

**Disclaimer:**

**Tia: She doesn't own one piece, or the idea of demons with tails!**

**Lily: I do own Tia and this fanfic though! Enjoy the show and remember to review! I want to hear(read) what you think!**

**Chapter 1**

In the East Blue, half way to the Grand Line and some distance away from Loguetown, sat an island. Its name was Andalas Island. It wasn't too impressive. Just big enough to hold a town and a forest, as well as a hill or 2. On the east hill, sat a church. Everyone went to this church for everything. Cure to sickness, to bless a house, to bless a child, to cure aches and pains and to see the demon girl. That's right; this church had its very own demon girl. This girl looked around 17 and had normal human features. Eyes, nose, mouth, arms and legs. Nothing strange there. However, this girl had a black tail, her ears where a bit pointy and she had small fangs. Her hair was black, but with some light blue streaks in it that looked like blue fire.

No one knew how this demon girl had come to live at the church. It was like one day she wasn't there, the next she was. The people of Andal Town where scared of her, yet couldn't help to go see her. Reason being, she looked so sad and helpless. No demon should look like that. The people sometimes question if she really is a demon, but then one look at her tail, fangs and ear, they go back to calling her 'She-Demon'.

The only people who know the truth about this demon where the demon herself and the priests of the church. Said demon was now watching all the priests pray to whatever god they pray to. She didn't bother learning, since it boards her. She knew, however, what the priests were praying for. They prayed for the sick, the old, the young, and the strong. Above all, they prayed for her.

Why, you ask? Well, it all started 5 years ago. She had been a child of the village, with a mother and a father. Why didn't they recognize her? Well, she was getting to that. Anyway, as any little girl would be, she was curious of the forest. Only people allowed in said forest where the hunters. And when you asked one of the said hunters what it was like, they never answered you. So, she had decided to go into the forest.

Worst. Idea. Ever.

First thing that happened to her was she got lost. Turned about in the forest and wondering. If she had the sense to stay in one spot, the hunters would have probably found her. Again, she was a 12 year old girl who didn't have the common sense to wander a forest. Anyway, the second thing that happened to her was that she started getting hungry. Never a good sign. When you're hungry and desperate, bad things happen. So, she kept walking, even though she was tired and her feet ached. And then she came across a strange fruit. It was shaped like a pear, light blue in color and had swirly designs all over it. She looked at it, picked it up and, against her better judgement, ate it. Normally she would have questioned the strange fruit, brought it to her parents and ask if she could eat it. But she was starved, so she ate it without a second thought.

It tasted like shit, but she forced it down because she was hungry.

She remembered standing there, waiting for something to happen. Nothing did, so she kept walking. She was strangely not hungry anymore and her feet didn't ache anymore either. Maybe it was some kind of medicine? She didn't put much thought into it as she could suddenly smell where the village was. Must be all the perfume the women wear, she had thought. Boy was she ever wrong.

She made her way back to the village, happy to be able to return. When she got there, however, people started screaming and yelling running away from her. She didn't know why, until she felt the wind blow at her tail bone. That's what it felt like, anyway. She turned around and saw a tail.

She had a tail.

It was black and long. At the end, there was a fire shaped part that was black as well. She was starting at it in complete wonder.

She had a TAIL!

Her thoughts moved to the strange fruit. WHAT had she eaten? She looked back in front of her, a big grin on her face, to see the priest all there, starting at her. She started back and felt her tail flick to the left. Cool, she could move it!

The head priest, Father Souji, stepped forward and kneeled down in front of her. He took one look, recognized who she was and took her back to the church, telling the towns people he was going to 'purify' her.

Once they were in the church, Father Souji explained everything. She had eaten a devil fruit. He had also given her a mirror, so she could see how much her face had changed. She no longer had brown hair, but black hair, with light blue streaks in it. And she had fangs as well. They were small and pointed. Her ears where pointed. The only thing the same was her face shape and her eyes. Bright blue, like the sea when light touches it. That day changed her life forever. It had also caused a sad look to never leave her face. Ever since then, she had not smiled, not once. The forest now has a name as well. It's called Demon Forest. Very unoriginal if you asked her.

"Tia! Stop day dreaming and help out!"

Tia snapped out of her memories and looked to the priest that had called her. He was short and chubby, with not much hair left. She looked around and saw that the priest where packing up and had finished their daily prayer when she had been lost in her memories and where now moving the boxes of things that towns people give them. Food, water, blankets, medicine.

"Okay" She called back. Pushing off the wall in the shadows she had been standing on, she flicked her tail and ran over, picking up a few boxes. As she passed a window on her way to the kitchen, she saw the port the town was built by. She stopped walking, causing people to slam into her back with loud protest of "Don't stop!" and "what's wrong? Why'd you stop?" and "Oomph!"

Just about to land in port, with a skull wearing a straw hat and cross bones, was a pirate ship.

* * *

"I see an Island!"

"Where?"

"Just on the horizon!"

"That's good; we need more food stock anyway."

"More MEAT!"

Could be heard from the small crew on the ship. A young boy with a straw hat, in a red vest and jeans was sitting on the sheep shaped figure head, excitedly watching the island come closer. He had a huge grin on his face. He could feel the adventure on this island. In the ship, there was a green haired swordsman asleep, snoring loudly, a red haired girl, checking over a map, a long nosed guy standing in the crow's nest looking through binoculars and a blonde guy with his hair over one eye standing next to the red haired girl.

"I'M HUNGRY! SANJI, FOOD!" The straw hat boy yelled, jumping over to the blonde guy, named Sanji.

"There's nothing left to cook with, Luffy" The blonde cook said, sighing. Yesterday the straw hat boy, Luffy, had eaten all their rations during the night. They had to find the nearest island to restock. Apparently the lookout for that night had been sleeping on the job. *cough* Usopp*cough*

"Where did it all go?" Luffy, apparently the captain of the ship asked turning around to look at the cook.

_BAM_

"YOU ATE IT ALL!" Came from three different directions as the cook buried his black shoed foot into the captain's head.

"Keep it down, I'm trying to sleep" The swordsman said sleepily, having been woken up by the yelling.

"All you ever do is sleep, Zoro!" The long nosed guy in the crow's nest called down.

The swordsman, Zoro, just grunted in response, lying down again. Sanji got annoyed and said to the sleepy swordsman "If you sleep too much, you're going to grow moss. Oh wait; you've already grown some, stupid marimo!"

"What was that, Shitty cook?" Zoro moved off the ground, his hand holding the hilt of his sword, Wado Ichimonji. Sanji jumped over the railing, to the lower deck, so he could face off with the swordsman.

"I called you ugly, dumbass" Sanji said. This caused a tit mark to appear on Zoro's head and they started fighting, swords and feet not the only thing flying.

"Bastard!"

"Jackass!"

"**ENOUGH!" **

_BONK BONK_

The red haired girl hit both men on the head, causing lumps to form.

"Yes, Nami-swaaannn~" Sanji swooned, going all wiggly.

"Tch" The swordsman scoffed, causing Sanji to glare over at him, before lying down again.

"We're here anyway" Nami, the navigator said, pointing to the port that was standing right in there faces. They docked there, the sails being pulled in. They didn't drop the anchor yet because of what they saw on the port.

"T-this place doesn't look t-to f-friendly" Long nose said, climbing down from the crow's nest. It didn't, either. All the men standing on port had taken up weapons.

"H-hey g-g-guys. I-I think my If-I-step-on-this-island-I'll-die illness is acting up again" Long nose continued, shaking on the floor, with a hand to his chest.

"Suck it up, Usopp" Zoro said, standing up again, with a hand on his one sword at his hip.

One of the men stepped forward and said, "What is your business here?"

"We're looking for some meat!" The captain called back, arms in the air huge grin still in place. He was hit in the head by a sheathed sword.

"We're only here to restock our rations" Sanji called down.

"We'll leave after we've got what we need" Nami said. The men looked at one another, debating and the one from before nodded.

"Alright, you may come into town. Here is a warning, however. Stay away from the church on the eastern hill. A demon lives there" The man said, before the when back to their work.

"A demon?" The pirates repeated. Luffy looked excited, Zoro looked thoughtful, Nami at first was scared, then she thought that since demons where supposed to be greed, maybe this demon had some treasure! Her scared feeling flew out the window. Usopp was outright shaking and trembling and Sanji looked curious.

"H-have I ever told you about the day I fought off 1,000 demons? They were HUGE, which fangs as long as my arm and claws as long as my legs! But I, the Great Captain Usopp -_ ("Hey! I'm the captain!")_- was able to fight off every single one!" Usopp said, trying to sound brave, standing proudly. Luffy looked amazed, with sparkles in his eyes.

"Liar" Nami said as she passed by.

"Damn, she saw through it!"

"ANYONE COULD SEE THROUGH IT!"

"You were lying?" Asked Luffy, looking shocked.

After a few minutes of getting ready, the pirates got off the ship and started exploring the town. Luffy ran off with a yelled "MEAT!" causing the other 4 to sigh. As they walked, Sanji spotted the eastern hill, as well as the building on top of it.

"That must be the church" He commented, causing the others to look over as well.

"Looks more like a temple then a church" Nami said thoughtfully, eyeing the elegant looking pillars. The church was a tall building, looking black in the sunlight. There where pillars at the four corners of it. The door of it was away from them, so it was hard to see, but it looked like it was a big door, with pillars on either side, and between the pillars, was a design. Not sure what, since again they couldn't see it.

Quite a lot of pillars.

"I-It looks scary" Usopp said, his legs trembling again.

"It's not like where going there, Usopp" Zoro commented as they entered the biggest restaurant they could find which didn't take long.

"Hey guys! This food is good! Come and try some!" Their idiot captain said from his seat at a table.

"THAT'S WHERE YOU'VE BEEN?_?_"

After some punches and kicks aimed at Luffy they joined him and all order some food, with Luffy ordering more. Zoro's eyes scanned the people of the restaurant. He had the feeling of someone watching them. His head wiped around and his eyes connected with bright blue eyes that looked impossibly sad, looking out of the nearby forest. He stared and the eyes stared back. He could just barely make out a face and then the eyes where gone, but the feeling of being watched was still there. It must have retreated into the forest, whatever is was.

"Something wrong, Zoro?" Nami asked, watching the swordsman's strange behaviour.

"No, It's nothing" Zoro commented, turning back to his food and beer. The doors opened again and when everyone in the restaurant saw the couple standing in the door way, a silence settled over everyone.

"What's going on?" Luffy, obvious to the atmosphere, said. The couple standing in the doorway walked to an empty table and sat down. A guy sitting at the table near the pirates table leaned over and said "You guys are the pirates right?" When he received nods, he continued.

"That couple, 5 years ago, lost their only child. It's believed that the demon, who resides at the church with the priests, had killed her and taken her form. Now, most of us town's people find it hard to say anything to them"

"They lost a child?" Nami asked looking horrified and sympathetic. The man nodded in response.

"If that was the case, why didn't the priests get rid of the demon?" Sanji asked as he lit a cigarette.

"Well, the priests all told us that they had sealed the demon inside the church. It could no long hurt anyone else, even if we went into the church, as some do" Another man, from the other side of the pirates said.

W-why would you w-want to see a d-demon?" Usopp asked, scared.

"To see how scary and dangerous it was" another man, from the table behind them, said.

Sanji took a drag from his cigarette, and then asked "Did it look scary or dangerous in any way?"

"Well, she didn't look that scary at all. Just that she had strange ears and fangs" The first man said, a thoughtful look on his face.

"She sounds absolutely beautiful!" Sanji commented his eyes and cig smoke turning into hearts.

"She also has a tail, remember?" The second guy said to the first. The first guy nodded. This piece of news didn't seem to faze Sanji as he kept making hearts and saying how the tail would comment her features wonderfully, he was probably imagining what the demon girl looked like. Usopp was scared.

"L-let's stay away from the c-church, okay guys?" Usopp asked, his whole body vibrating. Luffy, on the other hand, had stopped stuffing his face and was looked completely awed, sparkles in his eyes and around him.

"She has a TAIL?" He asked eagerness in his voice, spraying food everywhere. Usopp groaned in fear and Zoro patted his shoulder, saying "It can't be helped, Usopp."

Zoro then looked to the first guy and asked seriously "What color eyes does she have?"

This confused the guy and caught the interest of the other pirates.

"Um, well, her eyes are blue, like a bright blue, if I remember correctly" First guy said unsurely. Zoro nodded a thoughtful look on his face. Luffy then grabbed all the food on his plate, stuffed it into his mouth and shot out of the place, yelling something about 'finding the demon'. After many sighs and groans, the pirates paid for the food and left hurriedly after Luffy, surprisingly able to catch up to him.

"You asked that because you saw the person who was watching us?" Sanji asked Zoro. He too had been feeling the eyes of someone on them. Zoro nodded yes.

"A-are we going to the c-church?" Asked Usopp sacredly. After getting nods from the others, he yells out, "YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS! ARE YOU ALL INSANE? That demon could suck out our soul's o-or kill us like it did to that child! Why would you want to go there anyway?_?_"

"I want to meet this demon!" Luffy yelled into the sky, causing Usopp to shake even more and moan sacredly.

"I want to see how beautiful she is!" Sanji said, swooning.

"Dumbass" Zoro said.

"What was that?" Sanji was now in fighting mode.

"I called you a dumbass" Zoro shot back, which caused the two to start fighting.

"STOP FIGHTING!" Nami yelled with a punch for each man. It was very effective. As they walked through the town, Nami asked for directions to the church, Luffy didn't bother waiting, running ahead and they made their way there. As they did, the feeling of being watched left Zoro and Sanji. The person watching them must have left. As they walked, Usopp kept making excuses to leave, but Zoro always stopped him, Nami had to deal with a swooning Sanji and Luffy, who was way ahead by now, yelled for the others to hurry up.

It took about half an hour to get to the top of the hill, and another 10 minutes to get to the church doors. Once they reached the door, eerily sad singing could be heard from inside. There were no words, just song. This freaked Usopp out more.

"IT'S THE DEEEMOOOONN! RUUUUN FOOOR YOUUUR LIVVVVEESS!" He yelled, turned and did just that. Or tried to. Zoro stopped him by grabbing the back of his shirt and saying gruffly "It's just singing."

"Ah. Such beautifully sad music! I hope to meet the singer and I will sing to her songs of eternal love and happiness!" Sanji said, sprouting hearts again. Nami was almost the only one that noticed how sad the singer sounded. Luffy noticed this as well, but choice to ignore it. He ran to the door and said "Let's go inside" Excitedly.

Luffy pushed open the door and run inside followed by Sanji, Nami, Zoro and a protesting Usopp.

The inside looked just like a church might. There where bench after bench in row upon row. At the end of the main lane, one could see the altar. It was a fancy looking altar, with a huge picture of an angel behind it, her arms held out as if to hug everyone who was there. The singing was also louder. And sitting on the altar was a girl, with a tail that was flicking, her mouth open and song coming out of it. Everything seemed to stop moving as she sung her sad music; the air seemed to hold its breath, as if waiting for something. The light coming through a few windows landed on the altar, lighting the girl up, as if she where an angel. She opened her eyes and looked at the pirates curiously with her sad looking bright blue eyes, the sad song stopping as she closed her mouth.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2! Yay! Since I just started this story, I'm going to grace all you readers with a second chapter. Enjoy! Don't be afraid to press that review button. It's in need of some clicks! **

**Disclaimer:**

**Tia: She doesn't own One Piece or the idea of demons with tails!**

**Lily: I do own Tia and Ayumu, though. **

**Tia: Who's Ayumu? **

**Lily: You'll find out next chapter~!**

**Chapter 2**

There was a silence as Tia started at the group of pirates. She had been watching them from the forest and she had been sure that the swordsman had seen her. The way the swordsman was starting at her now proved that. His face had a look of shock and recognition when she met his eyes.

Yup, he had definitely seen her.

As for the others, the straw hat boy's brain seemed to have stopped. Or something. He was just starting at her, his eyes sparkly and he looked like he was restraining himself from tackling her. If he kept that up he's gonna pop a blood vessel. Long nose seemed too terrified to say anything, and the red-haired girl had beli signs in her eyes as she looked around, but when she didn't see anything that resembled any kind of gold or treasure she started to look scared. The blonde guy was over producing hearts, his cigarette smoke making hearts as well and his eyes had turned into hearts.

'Strange group' Tia thought to herself. Along with this thought, she tiled her head to the side. Her movement seemed to have snapped the group out of the silent moment as they all started moving. Straw hat shot forward, along with the blonde guy, until both where in front of her.

"SOOOO COOOOL!_ !_" He yelled in her face. The blonde guy kicked straw hat out of the way and grabbed her hand. He knelt on the floor and said, "Ah! Such beauty! I feel like an angel has descended on to earth, here to bless us all!" He kissed her hand and continued on with some love-sick gibberish, something about holy light and fires of hell. Long nose freaked out, screaming. Tia wasn't sure what he was saying though she caught something like "RUN FROM THE DEMOOOON!" The red-head was crying anime tears, on her knees with her hands to her face.

"We're all doomed" Tia heard the red-head say. The swordsman was the only one who seemed to keep his cool. He walked forward, insulted the blonde guy and the two started fighting.

"WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO TIA?_?_!_!_" Father Souji yelled, causing everyone to look over at him. He had just walked down the stairs on the left side of the altar, about a foot away. He was dressed in priest robes, like normal but he was holding a club.

Tia sweat dropped at this. 'Does he even know how to brain a person?' went through her mind.

"Yes, Tia, I know how to use a club" Father Souji said, after seeing her face.

"Who's the old guy?" Straw hat asked, pointing at said 'old guy'. A tit mark appeared on the Fathers forehead and with a yelled "I AM NOT OLD" he prepared to brain the straw hat kid. The blonde guy and the swordsman ran forward, going to stop Father Souji from hurting the straw hat kid, but they never got a chance.

-_BAM -_

Tia had jumped off the altar and ran in-between Father Souji and the straw hat. She spread her legs and raised her right arm, just as he swung the club. He hit her right arm. It hurt. He wasn't that strong, but he had this ability that when you're hit, it hurt a lot. (A/N: She doesn't know about haki/willpower yet)

There was another still moment, as everyone registered what happened. Tia was now half a foot away from the altar. How she had moved that fast was lost on the pirate group.

"Tia?" Father Souji looked surprised. He removed the club and Tia smiled at him.

"Don't hurt them, okay? Let's hear what they have to say" She said, turning away from him, rubbing the spot that he had hit. There was going to be a burse there. Long nose and the red-head seemed to have stopped yelling and crying now. They must have realized there was no danger.

"HEY, old man! No one hurts a lady while I'm around!" the blonde guy said, suddenly furious about something.

"Dumbass" The swordsman said to the blonde guy, causing the two to start fighting.

-BAM- -BAM-

The red-head hit them both, stopping the fight. She walked over to Tia and Father Souji then said, "Would it be alright if we explained why we are here?"

Father Souji looked to Tia, then nodded. "This way, I'll make tea" He said as he motioned to the staircase. The blonde guy still seemed angry that the Father had hit Tia so she said to him "I'm alright. The bruise will heal in half an hour." This caused all the pirates to stare at her and straw hat to start producing stars and repeating "sooo cool!"

The group made their way up the stairs and into the dining room/kitchen. When Father Souji started pulling out teas cups, the blonde guy stood up and said "Allow me." He went to work.

The kitchen was a normal looking with cabinets and counters. With a stove and oven; and a fringe. The dining room was right next to it. There was no wall separating the two, so it looked like one giant room. There was a table with many chairs on the dining room side. After all were seated and had cups of tea or coffee, the introductions were exchanged.

After the introductions, Father Souji asked "What are you doing here? Are you here to challenge Tia to a fight?" This caused surprised noses to come from the others.

"Whoever dares to hurt my beautiful Tia has to answer to me!" Sanji said, very angry.

"Now is not the time for that, shitty cook" Zoro said, causing a tick mark to appear on Sanji's head and they started fighting. Nami yelled at them to stop and a punch later, they did.

"Anyway, what do you mean, 'to a fight'?" Usopp asked. He seemed to still be scared of the 'She-Demon' since he took the seat furthest from her, but he also seemed interested. This caught all the pirates' attention, even Luffy, who was sitting on the floor by Tia's chair, watching her tail move.

"Well…" Father Souji looked over at Tia, hesitant to tell them. Tia looked at the Father levelly and he continued.

"Pirates and Marines from East Blue sometimes come here to rid this place of the 'demon'" He pointed at Tia as he said the last word.

"S-so you r-really are a d-demon" Usopp said, stuttering a bit. It appeared he had been hopping it wasn't true. Tia nodded, but Father Souji yelled out, "NO! She's not a _real_ demon. Just a…" He looked over at her, stopping before he could continue.

"I'm a devil fruit user" Tia said, looking up at the pirates. There was a surprised silence as this sunk into their minds. Then:

"NO WAY!" Usopp yelled. His eyes shouldn't move that far away from his body…

"YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS" Nami yelled in surprise.

"THAT'S SOO AWESOME!" Guess who said that?

"A devil fruit user?" That was Sanji.

"It looks as if she's a Zone type, but if that was the case, then she'd still have her human form." Zoro said thoughtfully, his hand to his chin as he thought about it.

Father Souji nodded, then said "We thought she was a Zone type as well, at first. But when she didn't move out of this form, we started to doubt that. Besides, almost nothing is known about the devil fruits, so there might be another type besides the three we already know."

Nami nodded her head, saying "That makes sense."

"So that means you have no idea what fruit she ate. Does that mean your tail is real?" Usopp asked, blinking a few times. Tia nodded to Usopp and watched the people talk, sipping her tea. She had taken a big gulp when Luffy decided to pull her tail. Hard.

Tia choked on her tea, yelped in pain jumped 20 feet into the air and was against the wall on the other side of the table all in about 4 seconds. She clutched her tail to her chest, yelling at Luffy "That HURT!"

"DAMNIT, what did you DO, Luffy?" Sanji said, now standing, looking ready to fight.

"He pulled my tail" Tia answered for Luffy, which caused his eyes to pop out of his head as he yelled.

"YOU MEAN IT'S REAL?"

"WE JUST SAID THAT"

-WACK- -BAM-

After Luffy was hit with punches and kicks, and Tia sat down again the conversation was continued from where it left off.

"Yes, we have no idea on what she ate, though we are positive it was a devil fruit." Father Souji said, nodding, acting like nothing happened.

"I see" Usopp said, sipping his tea also acting like nothing happened, causing the others to sweat drop.

"How do you plan on finding out what kind of devil fruit she ate?" Zoro asked, seemingly offhanded, but his eyes where sharp with interest.

"I was planning on leaving this island, but I don't know how to sail, or navigate a ship. So I'm stuck here until I can find someone to take me but since everyone thinks I'm a real demon, no one wants to take me on their ship with them" Tia said, with a shrug as if it didn't bother her, though her eyes said differently.

"Yosh! I've decided! You're going to be a part of my crew!" Luffy said, standing up and smiling a big goofy grin.

"WHAAAAT?!"

"YOU CAN'T DECIDE THAT!"

"GIVE THE LADY A CHOISE"

"WAIT, WAIT!" Usopp yelled, and he backhanded Luffy in the head, then continued "Don't you remember, Luffy? This demon killed a child! Do you really want someone like that on your crew?" Usopp was now pointing to the said demon. Tia watched him levelly, waiting for the captain's reaction. She was debating biting his finger, if it had been anywhere close to her face that is. Zoro, however, was the one who answered Usopp.

"It's true; we don't want someone like that on this crew. But, Luffy you don't believe what the villagers said, do you?" Zoro had a challenging smirk on his face. It made him look scary. Tia was suddenly wondering who the real demon was.

"Shihihihi! Nope!" Luffy laughed, with a big grin on his face.

"And why don't you believe it?" Usopp asked; sweat dropping at how Luffy answered. This time, Sanji said something.

"How can such a beautiful lady as her kill someone?" He was now doing his wiggly wiggly dance.

"But… That's what the villagers said" Usopp said weakly, looking defeated.

"Seriously Usopp. Do you really think Tia here would kill someone?" Nami jumped in with, walking over to the demon girl, placing a hand on her shoulder, even though Nami had been scared as well. "I mean, look at her. My guess would be that she _is_ the missing child."

"You're so smart, Nami-Swann~" Sanji said, doing his wiggly wiggly dance again.

Usopp looked at Tia, who looked back. After a short starting contest, it was apparent that Usopp now thought differently. Though he still had to ask "Are you the missing child?"

Tia nodded her head at him, confirming what Nami had said.

"What? You're the missing child?" Luffy said, tilting his head like he really hadn't figured it out.

"WHAT ELSE DID YOU THINK?"

"Shihihih. I thought the child was still missing!" Luffy answered, causing everyone in hearing distance to sweat drop.

"How stupid can you get?" Nami face palmed.

Tia, however, found this funny, as she started laughing. Father Souji looked surprised at first, and then he smiled too. 'She hasn't smiled in so long'.

"Ah, such a beautiful sound!" Sanji said and he was right. Her laugh was like her singing; expect it sounded happy, not sad.

Zoro couldn't insult the cook, since he thought the same. Not that he was going to admit that, though. After Tia calmed down, Luffy got straight into her face, his eyes full of determination. It was evident that he wasn't going to stop asking until Tia joined.

"Come ooooonnn! Join my pirate crew! It'll be fun!" Luffy said, smiling brightly. Tia was almost blinded by the brightness of his teeth. 'Teeth that bright have to be illegal.'

"I'm sorry, but I can't" Tia said, after pushing him back a bit. She watched how his face fell. His eyes got big and watery, his bottom lip out in a pout and trembling lightly. Tia felt her resolve slowly break down inside of her.

_'Too… cute.'_ She thought. She heard herself say "I'll… I'll think about it." Luffy's face went from sad pout, to happy smile in one second. He obviously thought she had accepted. Tia was now sure that the straw hat boy probabily had tricked her.

"I feel kind of bad for her" Usopp said, after watching Luffy pull out his puppy dog eyes.

"Yeah" Nami said sympathy in her voice. It was plainly seen that Tia hadn't experience much of the world at all, since she had always been inside the church most of her life and before that, she had led a sheltered life.

"Now we go tell your parents you're alive-"

"NO!" Tia interrupted Luffy. All the pirates looked at her wondering why she said that.

"Why not?" Usopp asked her, as confused as Luffy about it.

"Your parents would be happy to see you alive, wouldn't they be?" Sanji asked. He was confused a well.

"You should let your parents have a chance to love you, before you leave" Nami said, looking sad at the memory this brought up. Zoro said nothing, but his keen eyes had narrowed on to Tia. He had a good idea why she wouldn't let them.

"If they knew I was alive, they would feel guilty! Guilty for not recognizing me, guilty for pushing me away. I don't want them to have this guilt!" Tia said, looking really sad as she said it. Luffy got serious, leaning his head forward so his eyes where shadowed by his hat.

"So what? At least they would know you are alive! It's better to live with the guilt of 5 years, then to mourn for the rest of your life!" Luffy said. He seemed angry as he said it. Tia froze, thinking about what he just said. That… did make sense. They would be happy to know she was alive… She looked to the floor for a second. When she looked back up, she no longer looked sad, but determined. For 5 long years she had wallowed in self-pity because of her own stupidity. She had thought that she could do nothing to change it. No more! No longer would she sit around, doing nothing. No more mourning for the life she had lost. Now is the time to step up and take control of her life.

"Let's do it!" Tia said, smiling a real smile for the first time in 5 years. In answer, the other pirates smiled and hummed in agreement. Luffy no longer looked angry, he looked over-joyed. Tia would tell her parents she was alive (hopefully it will go well) and then she'd go off and be a pirate!

"FATHER SOUJI! FATHER SOUJI!" One of the priests, Priest Marc, came running into the dining room from the stairs, as if he had been out, stared at their quests, before running over to Father Souji and saying in a panic "Pirates! Other pirates have showed up!"

"What?" Father Souji asked, standing. "Who is it? What flag?"

"It's the Ayumu pirate flag! I was down by the port when they docked." His eyes shifted from Father Souji to Tia before he continued "They want to challenge 'She-Demon' Tia." Priest Marc took a deep breath.

"Where will this battle be held?" Father Souji asked, looking worried. If the pirates are still at the port, then the villagers are in danger.

"On the port, since their captain is the one who issued the challenge and he said that he wouldn't leave the port" Priest Marc said.

"If he dares to hurt Tia, I'll kick his ass!" Sanji yelled, after hearing Marc said 'he'.

"This is not your fight, bastard, so stay out of it" Zoro said to Sanji.

"I can fight if I want to, marimo!" Sanji said back, a tick mark on his head. Zoro glared at the cook for that comment and was able to retaliate, when Luffy spoke up.

"Sanji this is Tia's fight, so don't interfere got it?" Luffy's face was unusually serious. Sanji and Luffy started at one another, until Sanji mumbled an affinitive.

"Come on, Tia. Why not you just not accept this fight?" Usopp was trying to convince Tia to not go through with this fight. Which was kind of strange since he was scared shitless of her before. "You could die! Doesn't that scare you at all?"

Tia looked at Usopp and said "I'm no chicken. I have been asked to duel and duel I shall. Besides, my body heals faster than a normal human body." She held up the bruised arm, only for sounds of surprise to come from the pirates. There was almost no bruising left at all. As they watched, the bruise disappeared. It had been about half an hour.

"So you're really going to fight them?" Priest Marc asked, looking at Tia.

Tia smiled a huge smile that showed her pointed teeth. It made her look like she was baring her teeth at them.

"B-but" Usopp said, looking shocked and scared.

"You need to fight, don't you?" Nami said stepping forward. She looked scared for the demon girl or maybe it was scared for a new crew mate.

Tia nodded and said "If I don't fight, they'll attack this village. This village is my home, I can't let that happen. So, I have to fight and I have to win" Tia smiled, determination in her voice. Luffy's goofy grin spread on his face and he said "Can't wait to see you kick some ass!" With a laugh at the end.

"We'll take care of the small fry, so they don't interfere with the duel" Zoro said, a shit-eating grin spreading on his face, his hand on the one swords hilt. Tia nodded gratefully to him.

"Try not to get yourself hurt, my angel!" Sanji cooed to Tia who replied with "I'll try."

Tia smiled to Father Souji and Priest Marc. Then she went to her room to get ready for her big fight. Changing out of her home clothes, as she called them, basically a pair of sweat pants and a loose top. She changed into short-shorts, a close fitting top with an open vest. She wore sandals on her feet and open-finger gloves. She made sure to tie her long hair behind her head and made sure that her tail was in open view. Since the pirates wanted to fight the demon, she wasn't going to hide what she was.

Smiling at her reflection in the mirror, she grabbed her sword (a simple one, common made by the blacksmiths of the village) and walked out, mentally bracing herself for the fight.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello, everyone! To those of you who have favorite/altered this story or me as a writer, I just want to say thank you and your the best! To the readers (everyone who reads this story) your all amazing! To those who have questions/want to make a comment, don't be afraid to click the review button. Tia won't be able to answer your questions right now though. She's sleeping off the fight that's in this chapter. Yes, theres going to be some action for Tia. I had to rewrite a few parts in this chapter (because I didn't like them) but it's good now. As a warning, Tia swears a lot in this. I Don't Own One Piece or The Idea of Demons With Tails. I Only own my OCS. Enjoy this chapter and review when your done reading!**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

Tia stood there, looking at her opponent. At first, she had thought she'd have an easy fight. People think that a sealed demon is a weak demon. So weak people who want to up their fame come by, only to be surprised to find that Tia was strong. So it made sense for her to think she'd have an easy fight.

'_Shiiit. I'm so screwed!' _

It was true, too. Her opponent, Captain Ayumu, was a big guy. He was really tall, with big muscles and a mother fucking huge ass sword. He had a beard and he had a scar running from his ear to his cheek. He had this look on his face that said he thought this was going to be easy. He might be right.

Tia could hear and smell the villagers around, hiding behind stuff. Good idea. The whole village was there, she was sure. The hunters had brought weapons, in case she lost. How did she know this? When she had walked down to the village port, she saw everyone staring at her. She ignored them. The priests had made a show of partly 'de-sealing' her. Now she had a necklace on, with a light blue stone the size of her fist that rested against her chest acting as the 'sealing necklace.' When Father Souji had given it to Tia, Nami's eyes turned into beli signs. She noticed the Ayumu pirates standing a little way back on the port; some seemed to be on their ship, which was huge by the way. It was twice the size of the straw hats ship. The figure head was that of a fairy. Strange if you asked her.

"See something you like?" Ayumu smirked at her, causing her to shiver in disgust. She had been starting at him, true but only because of his size. He was probably as strong as she was…

She doubted that.

"No." Tia said, sticking out her tongue causing a tick mark to appear on his head.

"Don't you dare be snobby with me, girl! I'll make sure to beat some sense into you" Ayumu smirked devilously at Tia. _'Maybe I shouldn't have done that'_ Tia thought.

"If I win, you leave without hurting anyone."

"If I win, you will become a part of my crew. I like spirited-girls. Makes them harder to break" He sneered.

'_Ew!' _

"Deal" Tia said, grimacing slightly. Best not think about losing. Besides, she wasn't planning on keeping it. She had made the Straw Hats promise to, if she should lose, interfere and take down the Ayumu pirates. They were somewhere in the crowd, she was sure. She pulled out her sword and watched as he lifted the mother fucking huge ass sword. It looked like a claymore but was much bigger and longer then a normal one. How could anyone _human_ lift that?

Focus, Tia. Ignore the big ass sword and focus on the fight.

Lifting her own sword, she stood with her legs apart, both hands on the hilt. Ayumu lifted the sword above his head (which should be physically impossible) and brought it down, aiming to slice (crush) her in two.

God, he was fucking _fast_.

She jumped backward to avoid it, watching as it made a huge hole in the ground, and felt the sting when it scraped her right leg. She made a mental note to avoid the sword, at all cost. She landed with her feet spread, wincing when she landed on her right feeling her blood go down her leg. Maybe it was more serious than she thought. His sword was much sharper then it looked.

"You're pretty nimble" Ayumu said, pulling his sword out of the hole. Her blood was on it, she noticed. Tia didn't answer, calculating how fast she'd have to go to avoid him. Probably her fastest. He started swinging his sword at her, his moved practiced and fast. She blocked as many as she could, though a few got through. Ayumu kept swinging as her, coming from different angles. That's when she noticed it. When he swung from his right, his left side was left open.

Tia smile, dodging another swing. Next time he swung from his right, she shot forward, got inside his guard and sliced his side finishing her move behind him. Ayumu screamed in pain and surprise when Tia cut his side. Now that she was behind him, she swung around so she was facing him and cut his back as well. Blood was pouring from both wounds, covering the ground. Grunting in pain, he turned faster than she thought he could when he was hurt as badly as he was and backhanded her, sending her head first into a building. She screeched as she flew. The force of the hit was so strong it caused the building to collapse. Which meant stones and wood fell on top of her.

"Hahaha. Well, that didn't take long. Too bad I killed her though. I'd have liked to have some fun with her." Ayumu said while laughing, turning around and getting ready to leave. Tia could hear people shouting her name. She could pick out a few priests, Father Souji, Luffy, Sanji, Nami, and Usopp, a few villagers as well as people who sounded like her parents in the sound mesh. Her muddled mind found this strange.

Tia reached out and moved the rubble off of her, so she could breathe. Her sword was gone, so she'd have to fight without it. No time to find it. She could feel her blood run down the back of her head. She probably had a concussion. Lucky for her, she doesn't get nauseated when she has a concussion (she's had a few of them before). She walked out of the rubble, leaving a trail of blood in her wake. And she meant trail, not little drops. She left a line of blood were she walked, she was bleeding that much. She flicked her tail to the left and then right. Good, it wasn't broken.

"I'M STILL HERE, BASTARD!" Tia shouted at Ayumu, causing him to turn around and stare. She wasn't a pretty sight, covered in blood as she was.

"Well, well. You're sturdier than I thought." Ayumu said, smiling creepy. Tia was breathing hard, using a still standing wall for support. "Though, in the state you're in now, I bet you won't last another second! Prepare to die!" Ayumu rushed at her, which caused her to blinked, since it looked like there was two of him. Might as well dodge them both. Bending her legs, she jumped over him, literally over his tall frame and landed behind him. He and his twin spun around and swung their swords at her. She ducked low and ran under the two swords and, picking the one to her right (the one that didn't like to waver) and kicked his side.

Since apparently luck was with her, Tia hit the real Ayumu and since she put all her strength behind the kick, sent him flying into the building that was across from the one she flew into. Her mind, the part that was still rational, told her that he was probably winded and hopefully had a few broken ribs, like the ones she had just now notices. They must have broken when the tons of stone fell on her.

Tia collapsed onto the ground, sitting down hard on her ass, holding her side in pain and panting like she had just ran a marathon. Was it over? She hoped it was. She couldn't really move anymore, she was in that much pain. When Ayumu didn't get back up again, cheering started. The villagers where happy the Ayumu pirates where driven off. A lot of the villagers approached her and said how they were 'so sorry for misjudging her' and 'so grateful for her help'. They were much too happy to notice how hurt Tia was. Tia tuned them out; she was in too much pain to care.

When Father Souji finally made it to her, he brought with him all the Straw Hat pirates. Usopp was freaking out over how much blood was pooling around her, running around like a headless chicken, calling for a doctor. Nami was at Tia's side saying something. Sound had warped and now she felt like she was hearing through a tunnel. Sanji was freaking out as well. Tia heard "how dare he lay a finger on a lady!" From him. Zoro was on Tia's other side, a hand on her shoulder supporting her. She needed it, since she felt like a jellyfish. Luffy was freaking out, like Usopp, at the amount of blood, yelling that "TIA'S GOING TO BLEED OUT!" Father Souji was kneeling in front of her, holding up 4 fingers… Or was it 8? Maybe it was 2?

"How many fingers am I holding up?" Father Souji said, sounding worried. Her hearing came back to her as well as her sight. He was holding up 4 fingers.

"Four" Tia said distantly, feeling light-headed. Probably from the blood loss. Father Souji smiled at her answer, calling over to the 3 freaking out people "She's okay!" This caused Sanji, Usopp and Luffy to crowd her, asking if she was okay and such. Tia smiled at them all, and then fainted, letting the darkness sweep over her, snuffing out the pain.

* * *

"AHH! SHE FAINTED!"

"A DOCTOR! GET A DOCTOR!"

"MY BEAUTIFUL TIA-CHWAN! DON'T DIE!"

Luffy, Usopp and Sanji started freaking out again, when they saw Tia faint. She had fallen backwards and would have hit her head had Zoro not caught her. This caused Sanji to start yelling at the swordsman, telling him to "get your hands off Tia-chan!" Nami started talking to Father Souji, who didn't seem worried at all, asking him why he seemed so calm.

"Remember what Tia said to you? She told you about her fast healing. Her body is a lot more advanced than the rest of ours. So her healing abilities are higher than normal. If the wound is serious, then it will take a while to heal, but if it's minor, it won't that long." Father Souji explained as he stood up. Everyone could hear the Ayumu pirates shouting at their captain, than taking up weapons. Of course they weren't going to just leave.

"Luffy" Zoro said, causing the young captain to look at his first mate. Zoro nodded his head at the angry pirates and smiled.

"I see!" Luffy smiled. "Let's take care of the clean up!" He cracked his knuckles, looking pissed. He had watched his newest friend get beaten and he couldn't do anything to stop it. Of course he was angry. Since Ayumu was down, he was going to run the Ayumu pirates out of town. Zoro nodded his agreement.

"Here, take the girl" He said to Nami before standing up and running with Luffy to the other pirates, looking ready to kill.

Nami, Father Souji and Usopp watched as the duo beat/sliced the crap out of the pirates.

"Good going! Just like I planned!" Usopp said, causing the little kids to stare at him in awe.

Sanji walked over to the unconscious demon and picked her up. "I'll take Tia back to the church. That okay, Nami-san?" He asked, looking at the red-head.

"Yes. I'll stay here and make sure those two don't get lost" Nami replied. Then she looked at Usopp and said "Go with Sanji, Usopp. You're not doing much here anyway." She muttered the last part under her breath.

"I, the GREAT CAPTAIN USOPP, shall help young Tia with my amazing medical skills!" Usopp boasted, as he followed Sanji.

"Shut up, you liar. You're going to disturb Tia-chan's rest" Sanji aimed a glare at Usopp.

"Alright, I'll be quiet" Usopp said in a defeated way. Father Souji led both Sanji and Usopp back to the church in silence. He found it best to ignore the other two's chatter. Tia will probably have to help fix the buildings later.

-BOOM-

And whatever that was. With a sigh, he led on. The Straw Hat pirates seemed like okay people. Tia will have fun when she leaves with them, that he was sure of.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello everyone! Sorry if I took too long! I'd like to thank all of you who have favorited/altered me or favorited/altered this story. Also too all my readers your all wonderful! Also I will answer as many reviews as I can here, but if it gets too much, I'll switch by putting all those peoples names here and thanking them from the bottom of my heart! (Tia: You have a heart?) Also, I have Tia singing songs here with lyrics. English songs because I don't know how to speak/write japanese. Plus there all speaking english... Anyway, the songs are Broken by Seether (just the first part is sung) and Somebody to love by Queen (I'm just that awesome. Plus I was listening to the song while writing...)**

**Portgas D. Paula: Your reviews made my day. Really! I wasn't sure how I wanted the fight to go before. At first I was going to make her lose, then get Luffy to step in and beat him, but then Tia took over and made it that way. I was happy with it, so I left it. While Tia and I were writing it, I didn't want to make Tia seem like she had god-like powers. I'm still struggling with that. Tia, however, doesn't really care if I make her super powerfully...**

**H (Quest): I'm glad you think so! **

**Tia: Lily does not own One Piece or the idea of demons with tails. **

**Lily: I own Lily and Ayumu and Creepy Man.**

**Tia: Creepy Man? Who's he? And you just love to torture me, don't you?**

**Lily: Heh~! Maybe~! You'll find out who he is next chapter~!**

**Chapter 4**

The first thing Tia felt was the sunlight of the setting sun on her face. She groaned and turned away from the blinding light. This caused her sides to give painful throbs and she moved onto her back, making sure not to crush her tail. Now that she was awake, she could feel how sore she was. She ached everywhere. She had a painful headache as well. She wasn't sure why her body was so sore. She lay in her bed (cuz that's where she was and she was too sore to move) and pondered over this. It took about a minute for everything to come back to her.

"Ugh! Ow ow ow"

Tia had bolted upright when she remembers what had happened and her ribs gave a very painful throb. She collapsed back onto the bed, after a small scream and a few grunts. Now, she had her hands over her ribs, taking deep breaths. _'Maybe if I move slowly, it won't hurt as much.'_ She slowly sat up, smiling when it worked.

She looked around her, confirming where she was. The bed against the wall, the window right above, the mirror across, the dresser over there. Yup, it was her room. She removed the blanket, and looked at her body. There was a bandage around most of her right leg, a few spots on her left. Her arms where both bandaged up to the elbow. Her torso was completely bandaged.

How did she know this?

Well, someone had changed her into one of her nightgowns. This one went down to her knees and had little straps holding it on. Too top it off, it was a V-neck. She could feel her bra under the bandages. That's good. Sighing to herself, she slowly swung her legs over the side of the bed and tried to stand. Keyword: Tried.

She stumbled on her unsteady legs, holding to the bed frame to keep steady. She normally had good balance. Must be the concussion she had gotten. Eyeing the door, wondering if she'd be able to make it without falling on her ass.

Testing both her legs, she ran for the door. Fortunately, she made it without tripping. Unfortunately, once she got the door open and stepped out, she tripped. Since her room was right by the stairs that led to the kitchen when she tripped, she fell down them.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!"

-BAM- -BONK- -BAM- -BONK-

She landed ungracefully on her front. She was going to sue who ever gave her the concussion. Getting up on all fours, she felt her tail touch her left arm.

"AH! TIA-CHWAN! Are you okay, my beautiful demon?" Someone was suddenly in front of her and from the person smell, it was Sanji. Tia looked up and found he was way _way _too close.

"ARGH!" Tia screeched from surprise, pushed herself up and away from Sanji. She had a hand on her chest, trying to keep her heart from running away and her tail was flicking in displeasure.

"HAHAHA! You scared her, swirly-brow!" Zoro laughed, causing Tia and Sanji to look over at him. He seemed really amused by her reaction. Sanji and Zoro started fighting again. That was when she noticed other scents in the room. She could smell Luffy, Nami, Usopp and two other unidentified smells. She looked at Luffy, who was laughing like no tomorrow, while Usopp's face was going red. Sanji took one look at Tia and started sprouting hearts and swooning over her, the fight forgotten. Probably because of the nightgown she had on. Zoro looked unaffected by her appearance. Reason for that was he didn't look her way at all. Nami looked slightly embarrassed, then she stood up and grabbed Tia arm before hulling the demon girl back up the steps.

"Geez. Don't you have any feminine modesty? Walking out wearing a nightgown like that, even with bandages on, is bad. Especially when there are boys in the house" Nami ranted as she dragged the stumbling Tia up to her room. Tia didn't say anything to this. She didn't want to feed the fire.

A few minutes later, both girls came back down the stairs. Tia was now dressed differently, much too some peoples relief and someone's disappointment. (Guess who.) She had on a blue T-shirt and jeans. She had kept the bandages on, because if she took them off, she was scared to what Nami would do to her. Nami had been watching her like a hawk as Tia changed. It was somewhat scary.

That was when Tia noticed the two other people in the dining room and stopped dead.

Her parents.

Luffy jumped over to her, smiling a big smile and said "Glad you're finally awake! I ran into these two"-he pointed at her parents"-"after Zoro and I ran those pirates out of town."

"I was surprised when Luffy brought them here" Usopp chimed in, looking at the two guests.

"Now I see where Tia-chwan got her good looks!" Sanji did his swooning dance over Tia's mom. That was kind of disturbing. Nami apparently thought the same.

-BAM-

KO! Sanji is down! The winner is… Naaaaami!

"…"

Everyone sweat dropped at the cook then went back to the conversation.

Tia's mom looked over at Tia and tears welled up in her eyes.

"Is that really you, Tia?" Tia felt her eyes prickly with tears. She nodded at her mom. Her father stood up.

"Hanifa now is not the time for tears. We should be telling the whole town!" He looked at Tia and asked "Did you really eat a devil fruit?"

"Yes" Tia said. She was standing a little away from them, looking uncertain.

"Oh Amir, to think we didn't recognize our own daughter." Hanifa was crying now, mostly out of guilt.

"We can make up for it now, by loving her no matter what she does. Now, come here Tia and give your daddy a hug!" Tia's face went red with embarrassment, but she still ran over and huged Amir. She was blinking away tears. Hanifa hugged both father and daughter, smiling while she cried.

Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp and Sanji (who just woke up) watched the scene with happy smiles. Usopp was tearing up, Luffy had a big happy grin on his face, Zoro was smiling, Nami looked happy for the new crewmate and Sanji was saying something about the 'beautiful love of a family' or maybe it was more like 'the beautiful love a mother has for a daughter.'

After the family reunion, the two adults left to tell the village the truth. Father Souji had walked down the stairs, and freaked when he saw Tia standing there in the room.

"YOU CAN'T WALK AROUND! YOU'RE INJURED! GET BACK TO BED, YOUNG LADY!" and so on.

As the Father was checking up on her injuries (he didn't lift her shirt of anything) Tia asked "How long was I out?"

"About 4 hours"

"I guess my bodies going to take a few days to heal. Bones do take a while to mend" Tia said thoughtfully. Zoro, Sanji and Luffy left to go help repair the buildings. Usopp and Nami stayed behind with Tia. After Father Souji finished checking the injuries, she left with Nami and Usopp, both of them protesting about her helping the monster trio and all the other villagers with the building.

"You're still injured! You could break something else if you helped!" Usopp so kindly pointed out.

"Usopp is right, your way to hurt to help!" Nami put her input in.

"Don't worry, I'll hold back and take frequent breaks!" Was Tia's cheerful response.

"THAT DOESN'T CHANGE ANYTHING!"

Tia laughed and said "How about you two watch over me and tell me when I'm doing too much and when I should take breaks?"

"That's… not a bad idea." Nami said, smiling slightly.

"Don't you worry, Tia, because I, the GREAT CAPTAIN USOPP, will help you however and whenever I can. You don't need to strain yourself over this back-breaking work! I'll make sure all these buildings are made in tip-top shape!" Usopp boasted, standing tall with his hands on his hips.

"Oh! Will you be helping Tia with the work, then?" Nami asked, a little too sweetly. Usopp started to sweat lightly as Nami continued "You'll have to do all the heavy labour, since you are Great Captain Usopp."

"Uh… Right! Of course! HAHAHA! This will be nothing for me, MIGHTY USOPP!"

And so, Mighty Usopp got to do the 'back-breaking work' alongside Tia.

"…"

"…"

"…"

Tia could feel the eyes of the other people gawking at her as she picked up 5 wooden planks using one hand. Lifting the stack onto her shoulder, she walked over to a building, jumped up to the top (wasn't that hard, though the first time she did this Nami freaked) and put the planks down next to a guy holding a hammer. He was gawking, too. Eyes wide, mouth gaping open. She was pretty sure they all knew who she was now. So they were probably staring about her strength. She had scared the crap out of Nami and Usopp when they watched her pick up 5 planks the first time and lift them onto her shoulder like they didn't weigh 45 lbs. As she worked, she made sure not to strain too much. Her body was healing itself, but even so, she was still injurd and even though she was a demon, she could still break something. Her concussion seemed to be gone, though.

When she walked by Luffy, Zoro and Sanji, all 3 stared then Luffy looked like a box of glitter had been dumped on him, Zoro had looked shocked, with his mouth open. It looked like he was trying to catch flies. Sanji ran over to her and said basically the same thing as Usopp and Nami, but with more comments about her beauty and her 'perfect skin'. He shut up, though, when she said "But I want to help."

She took breaks whenever Nami told her too. Some of the others working helped her too. Instead of looking scared, they now look happy to see her. Even so, she knew that she couldn't stay there. Even though she was being accepted, she still didn't feel like she belonged there. She felt out of place. She was a demon and they were human. She was different from them and they feared that difference.

As the rebuilding continued, she notice that not just 2, but 6 buildings had been damaged. When she asked Zoro he said that the Ayumu pirates had damaged 2 buildings, while Luffy totalled the other ones. She made sure to trip her captain with her tail as she walked by. He ended up under the planks he had been carrying. She then smiled innocently and moved on.

As she worked, she sang. Whatever song came to her mind. Right now she was singing a sad love song.

'I wanted you to know I love the way you laugh  
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain away  
I keep your photograph, I know it serves me well  
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain'

She passed Luffy, placed the planks down beside Usopp and went to get more.

"Sing something happier!" Luffy whined with a pouty face.

"I will if something comes to me" Tia said back as she walked away.

After many hammering and pounding later (it took a few days, too) the buildings where fixed and the villagers where – what else? – partying! Booze was going around like wild fire, a buffet with endless amount of food was set up and music was playing as loud as it can go. Luffy was at the buffet, stuffing his face at a speed that was inhuman. Usopp was standing in a crowd of people, singing songs about him. He was probably drunk like a duck. Sanji was dancing with the young women of the village. Zoro was drinking away. Tia had lost count how many bottles of sake he had drank.

At first, Tia had stayed at a distance, watching the pirates and villagers party. That is, until Nami sat down next to her.

"What 're ya doin' over here?" Nami slured, a mug of booze in her hand. She was probably drunk, or acting like it.

"Watching mostly" Tia responded, smiling slightly. Nami laughed and took a long drink from the mug.

"Ya should join in! It's no fun just watchin'. Get off yer ass and go have fun" Nami then stood up, stumbled a bit and mingled back into the dancers. Smiling slightly, Tia got up and followed after her. After a bit of looking around, she walked over to Zoro and sat down next to him. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"You want to join in?" He asked her, gesturing around him.

"Drinking contest?" She clarified. Zoro nodded. She felt a grin on her face.

"I'm IN!"

This was her first time drinking, but she didn't care. She wanted to see if she could get drunk. She was a demon, after all. After her 10th glass, she found this to be true. She had out drunken some of the men, when she got the best idea ever (in her mind it was the best).

"I'll be right back" She said to Zoro. Her speech wasn't that slurred. She stood up, stumbled a bit, and then sprinted for the band that was playing before he could answer. Since she wasn't checking her speed, she got there in about 10 seconds.

"Hey, do ye mind if I sing?" She slurred to the singer. After a bit of discussion on what song she wanted to sing. She was allowed and the band started up. And she started singing and dancing.

'Can anybody find me somebody to love?  
Each morning I get up I die a little  
Can barely stand on my feet  
Take a look in the mirror and cry  
Lord what you're doing to me  
I have spent all my years in believing you  
But I just can't get no relief,  
Lord!  
Somebody, somebody  
Can anybody find me somebody to love?

I work hard every day of my life  
I work till I ache my bones  
At the end I take home my hard earned pay all on my own -  
I get down on my knees  
And I start to pray  
Till the tears run down from my eyes  
Lord - somebody - somebody  
Can anybody find me - somebody to love?

(She works hard)

Everyday - I try and I try and I try -  
But everybody wants to put me down  
They say I'm goin' crazy  
They say I got a lot of water in my brain  
Got no common sense  
I got nobody left to believe  
Yeah - yeah yeah yeah

Oh Lord  
Somebody - somebody  
Can anybody find me somebody to love?

Got no feel, I got no rhythm  
I just keep losing my beat  
I'm ok, I'm alright  
Ain't gonna face no defeat  
I just gotta get out of this prison cell  
Someday I'm gonna be free, Lord!

Find me somebody to love  
Can anybody find me somebody to love?

Tia took no notice at the people staring at her, or the cheering. Usopp had stopped his singing in favor of listening to her. Luffy had stopped eating to cheer her on; Nami was among the people who had gotten up to dance. Sanji was dancing with the ladies and talking about Tia's 'heavenly voice'. Zoro stayed where he was, drinking and smiling to himself.

After she finished that song, people called out "encore, encore" and she obliged, singing more songs.

The party lasted for the rest of the day and all night. By the next morning, everyone was asleep on the ground; even Tia. They all slept until midday. Then everyone started waking up and those people without major hangovers did the cleanup. Tia was one of the ones who woke up first and she had a mild hangover (Meaning she felt like crap). When she woke up, she was on top of Luffy, next to Zoro and Usopp. She crawled off him and sat down, holding her head, wondering how in the hell she ending up on top of Luffy. Zoro woke up then and when he spotted Tia holding her head, he smirked.

"Hangover, I'm guessing?" He said smugly. He looked just fine, the bastard. Flicking her tail in annoyance Tia glared at him, putting all her crappy feelings into it. He _laughed_ and went to wake up the rest of the crew. She cursed him down to hell in her head. Sighing, she found Father Souji in the group of sleeping people and kicked him awake. Yes, she was being a bitch, but she didn't feel good right then.

After waking Father Souji roughfully, the two left for the church, so Tia could pack up. Once in her room, Tia grabbed a bag, put all her clothing into it, accepted the money (500,000 beri) and put it in her bag. She changed cloths as well. Now she was wearing a purple and blue dress-like shirt, with a different pair of jeans. She picked up her bag and after one last look at her room, left. When she entered the kitchen, she saw Father Souji, Priest Marc and all the other Priests. She walked to them, saying "Thank you, for taking care of me" and bowed. Some crying (Tia didn't cry) and group hugs later, she and Father Souji where alone. She moved to take the necklace off, but he stopped her.

"Keep it as a gift from us to you" He said with a smile. Tia returned the smile. Tia lingered at the altar for a bit, smiling. Then she left, grabbing her board as she went. This board was flat, rounded at the tip. It had an engine on the back of it. There was placed where her feet go, with straps over them. It also had two engines on the bottom of it. It was like a hovercraft. She liked to call it a Hover Board. As far back as she can remember the village always used them for sport, so she was given one when she turned 10. Since then, she had kept it with her.

Slipping her feet onto it, she kick-started it. Where her feet where, there was moveable pads. These pads helped control the board and the engines just by moving your feet. It was very helpful and on top of that, you could use it as a weapon. It was sturdy enough to hold you on it and block weapons. It was very useful and she wouldn't go anywhere without it. What powered the engine was the air around her. It gathered the air around into the engine, filtered out the certain chemicals in the air that it used to power it and then pushed the rest of it out, making the board really hover.

Rising into the air, she leaned onto her toes so the pads would move like that and she shot forward, her tail flowing behind her. It was exhilarating, flying through the air at that speed. She loved going fast. The air blew her long hair away from her face. As she neared the port, and the group of people, she heard shouts of awe and shock from the ship.

Smiling to herself, she leaned back so she'd slow down to a stop. When she was no longer moving, the board lowered to the ground. She shut off the engine and jumped off. As the good-byes started, she got a few hugs from some people. When she came face to face with her parents, she smiled at them.

"Stay safe, okay Tia?" Hanifa asked.

"I'll try my best, Mom" Tia answered and hugged her mom.

"Become strong and make sure to live without regrets" Amir said to Tia, also hugging her. Tia felt tears well in her eyes.

"I will, Dad" She said with a smile. Turning around, she picked up her board and jumped onto the ship after a running start. When she landed on the ship, she turned around and yelled out "I'LL MISS YOU ALL! EVERYONE STAY SAFE!" The crowd responded by calling out their good-byes as the shipped set sail.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay?" Nami asked Tia as she turned around, rubbing at her eyes.

"I'm sure" Tia answered. A few tears feel down her cheek and off her face. Before the tears could touch the deck, though they burned away, as if they were made of fire.

"AH! YOUR TEARS-!" Usopp said, pointing. Tia calmed down and said "I know. I'm not sure why that happens either."

"SOOO COOOL!_!_" Luffy said, looking completely awed by her fire tears.

"Tia-chwan, there will be a lot of danger. Of course, I will protect you with my life but are you sure you're ready for all the danger that's to follow?" Sanji brought the conversation back to the point where they lost track.

"He's right, for a change. If you don't have the resolve, turn back now" Zoro added in.

Tia looked at Sanji, nodded and said "Yes, I'm sure." Then she looked at Zoro, and said "I have made up my mind. I will travel with you all. If I end up dying because of this, then that's okay" Tia saw Zoro smile.

"YOU ARE CRAZY!" Usopp shouted at her, poking her forehead.

Tia smiled at Usopp and said "A little crazy is okay. Especially on this ship."

Tia looked forward as the ship sailed on, ignoring the laughter (and scared scream) that came from her crewmates. She had just taken a step toward her future and she knew that future was here, with the Straw Hat Pirates.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello everyone! I'm sorry I took so long this time around. I caught a cold and when I get sick, I don't want to do anything. Anyway, I'm better now, so here is a new chapter! If you're wondering Yedi-Kuyruklu Şeytan means seven-tailed demon. I know, very unoriginal. Anyway on to reviews! **

**Portgas D. Paula: Luffy was the one to tell them. It took Luffy a lot of effort to get them to go to the church, but in the end, he did it. After all, we all know just how stuborn he can be.**

**TwilightMelodiac: I'm glad you found that chapter funny. I was trying to make it funny. ^^**

**UNICORNSPOORRAINBOWS: I'm glad you love it! I hope you didn't injury yourselve when you fell. **

**A special thanks to all those who have reviewed/favorted/alerted this story or me as an author. And a thanks to all those who have read this story so far. **

**Tia: Lily doesn't own one piece or the idea of demons with tails!**

**Lily: I own your ass and Creepy Man!**

**Tia:-Blushes- _O-OI!_**

**Lily: ON TO THE STORY! Enjoy~!**

**Chapter 5**

On the first 2 hours that Tia had ridden with the pirates, she got sea sick. It sucked, bad. She was hanging over the side of the ship, feeling like she wanted to die. She came pretty close to killing herself, but the others stopped her. Now, she was hanging over the rail again on the aft deck, waiting to get her sea legs. She knew Luffy was behind her, watching her tail move. He'd been doing that for a while now. Usopp was there, too, standing a little bit away. He still seemed afraid of her. Sanji was in the lounge kitchen area, probably cleaning. When Tia first felt sea sick, he went nuts over her and she shot him a 'demon glare' and he backed off. Zoro was off training or maybe sleeping, she wasn't sure. Nami was in the lounge with Sanji, probably looking over a map or something.

After the two hours where up, Tia's stomach decided to give her a break and subsided. Sighing with relief, she collapsed against the rail.

"You know, you getting sick sea makes you seem less scary" Usopp commented thoughtfully. Tia shot him a glare, making him squeak. After a moment of silence, Usopp asked "Are you feeling better?" Tia smiled and nodded.

"Yeah" Tia then looked at Luffy. He was staring intently at her tail, as if waiting for it to fall off or something. He had also been asking her to play with him since the first moment she walked on. Tia sweat dropped at him, then moved her tail to the left. His eyes followed it. He looked like an excited child. Tia sighed and stood up, surprised when she didn't stumble or fall. She seemed to have gotten her sea legs! Her tail flicked in satisfaction. Usopp noticed this as well.

"Hey! You sure you're feeling well enough to walk around?" He sounded concerned for the demon.

"Now that you're feeling better, play with me!" Luffy jumped up and exclaimed. He resembled a child with a new toy.

"Yeah" Tia answered Usopp, then said to Luffy "Sorry, not now; maybe some other time, okay?" Luffy pouted and then went to grab her tail again probably out of boredom and she glared at him. Tia walked around the lounge building, Usopp and Luffy following her.

"Hey, I see an island up ahead" Zoro called over from where he laid on the front deck (A/N: for lack of a better word… you know, the deck that's just behind the Merry's figurehead. If you know the term, please tell me so I can fix it). His yelled caused Nami and Sanji to walk out of the lounge, Sanji going gaga when he noticed Tia there.

"You do…?" Nami asked before looking around. Tia spotted the island and ran over to the side of the ship to get a better view. "That island is proof that we're close to the Grand Line!" Tia could just make out a town on the island. "On that island, there's a famous town called Logue Town. " Tia's tail started to hit the rail beside her in much the same way a dog's tail would. "It's also known as the town of the beginning and the end. It's the birthplace of the Pirate King Roger as well as his Execution spot." Nami finished.

-THUMB- -THUMB-

Tia's tail was wagging back and forth at a fast pace (it was hitting the railing on her left hence the thumbing sound) and she had an excited grin on her face. If the imagination was stretched a bit, she resembled that of a dog. The other pirates started at her and sweat dropped.

"…"

"TIA! STOP THAT!" Nami yelled when the sound got on her nerves. Tia looked over sheepishly and moved away from the railing.

"Sorry" She said, looking embarrassed, though her tail never stopped its rapid waging.

"Tia-chwans so cute when embarrassed!" Sanji cooed, doing his little dance.

"SHISHISHI! She was acting like a dog!" Luffy laughed, pointing at her. Sanji went into 'protect-the-girls-honor' mode. He kicked Luffy in the head, yelling "DO NOT CALL TIA-CHWAN A DOG!" After a short beat up session, Luffy was looking at the island seriously.

"So that's the town that the Pirate King died at…"

"Shall we go?" Nami asked him. He agreed and they headed for the island. Before they reached the island, Tia went down to the women's room. Nami had set up a futon on the floor for her, with blankets and pillows. Tia walked over to her bed, got her bag and pulled out a different pair of jeans. Putting those on, she switched out her T-shirt for a long shelved one. She gently treaded her tail through the belt loops. The only part she had trouble with was the fire-shaped tip on her tail. She stopped putting her tail through the loops when she got to her right hip. She let her Tail tip hang down. After she was done, it looked like a black scarf, the end of it going down a small portion of her thigh. For the finishing touches, she pulled out a head band and put it on.

Why was she doing this? It was all to look human. That way, she wouldn't scare anyone off and wouldn't cause a ruckus.

She walked back onto the deck and was face to face with Luffy. "AARGH!" Tia screeched in surprise, falling back into the open doorway of the storage. Had she not caught herself on the door frame, she would have landed painfully on her back.

"Where's your tail?" Luffy asked. "Did you lose it?" Tia sweat dropped at him.

"Of course she didn't lose it, moron. She's probably hiding it" Zoro commented.

"That's right. I doubt the population would take nicely to a renegade demon" Usopp said, nodding.

"Usopp and Zoro are right. I don't want to cause a ruckus, so I'll be acting human" Tia said to Luffy (after glaring at Usopp for that wording making him whimper in fear), who looked like he didn't get it. Oh well. They found a good hiding place for the ship and docked. Tia found herself standing in front of a gate, with lots of people around and many houses. Tia felt the need to wage her tail, she resisted. She had to play human.

"WHOA! What a big town!" Luffy yelled then he saw it.

"So the pirate age all began from here, eh?" Sanji commented.

"Ok, then! I'm gonna go see the execution stand!" Luffy said.

"Seems like I can get some good ingredients and food here" Sanji said.

"I'll have to find a weapon" Tia said to herself.

"I'm going to go look for some equipment to buy" Usopp said.

"I have something I want to buy too, but…" Zoro looked over at Nami, a hand to his chin.

"I'll happily lend you some money. At 300% interest, that is." Nami smiled like a demon. Tia made a mental note to never ask for money from her. After Luffy ran off all excited like, Tia ran off, too. She was eager to explore the first town she's ever been in that wasn't her own town. She walked through the people, never turning heads like she would have if she didn't hide her differences. She always felt bad about hiding what she was, but sometimes it was for the best.

She had brought 200,000 beli from the 500,000 she had on the ship. She hoped that was enough to buy a weapon. After walking around for a bit, she noticed she didn't recognize where she was. She had been turning through a lot of streets, so maybe she was in some back alley? Tia shivered and wanted to get back to the main streets right away, but a store caught her eye. A weapon store.

She stopped to stare for a bit, before she decided to go in. She was a demon after all. Demons where supposed to have no fear!

…

When had she started to refer to herself as 'demon' and not 'human'? Sighing at herself, she eyed the door a bit, before going in slowly. So, she was a scared demon. So what? Give her a break! Not all demons had to be fearless.

It looked like a normal store. Shelves and displays placed here and there. All sporting some weapon of some kind. She also noticed hall way in the back, covered by a curtain. Weird. As she looked around, she met the shop keeper.

He looked around 45-50 with greying hair and bread. His eyes where sharp and piercing. Something about this old guy made Tia want to turn around and run, but she held her ground. The shop keeper looked her up and down slowly, causing Tia to shiver. Then he smiled. It was really creepy. He had some missing teeth, Tia noted on an off note.

"So. Seven has arrived" He said, his voice cracked from misuse. He stood up from the chair he was sitting in. He was _tall_. At least two heads taller than Tia and that was saying something.

"Follow me, Seven. It has been waiting for your arrival" Shop keeper said, walking to the curtain. It? What It? Tia swallowed and started to follow him. She was pretty sure if she ran the other way; he'd somehow drag her back. He pulled back the curtain and showed her the suppose hallway.

It looked like a long room more than a hall way. The walls made creepy shadows in the darkness that looked like they were crawling toward the light and Tia could see lamps on the walls at intervals. At the end of the long room, there was a glass case. Tia couldn't see what was inside it since it was too dark.

"Go on, now" Creepy man pushed her from behind and made her walk forward. Tia stepped into the creepy room, moving toward the case. Creepy man stayed behind her, making sure she didn't turn around and run. She felt like a trapped animal, desperately trying to escape, but can't.

They reached the case then and Creepy man reached around her to flick something under the case. Light suddenly brighten the case, causing Tia to shy away and close her eyes from the light. After a second, she reopened them and gasped at what she saw.

Swords lay in the case. 9 of them. All of them different colors. She saw silver, gold, bronze, green, navy, scarlet, pink, purple and light blue. Each sword seemed to have a strange hilt. The guard of the hilt had a piece of metal that twirled around the handle. The number of twirling metal was different for each one. The blades where all the same color, with tints of different color on each. The tint was different for each. They all looked relatively the same for shape and form.

She noticed spaces where there shouldn't be spaces. The 2nd sword, the 5th sword and the 9th sword was missing. At least, that's what she thought. Her eyes fell on the 7th sword and she stopped dead. There was something different about this sword. Something that called to her. She raised a hand and placed it on the case above the sword.

"Yedi-Kuyruklu Şeytan. That is the name of that Sword of the Devil" Creepy man said from behind her, making her jump. She had almost forgotten he was here.

"Sword of the Devil…?" Tia asked, looking back at the sword.

"These swords are only to be handled by the 12 Great Demons. Congratulations, Tia Xene Angeliki. You have been chosen to be the holder of a Sword of the Devil, Yedi-Kuyruklu Şeytan."

Creepy man unlocked the case using a key and motioned for her to pick up the sword. Tia looked at him, and then looked down at the sword. She reached out, grabbing a hold of the sword and lifting it out of the case. Creepy man quickly relocked the case, as if the other swords could get out, or something. She ignored Creepy man for now so she could admire her new sword.

It had seven pieces of curling metal around the hilt that where tinted light blue. The handle was light blue, too. She compared the color to the blue in her hair. The blade had an even temperate, and even though it was slightly curled, it seemed to her like it was straight forward and true. She loved it on first sight.

"What about the scabbard?" Tia asked the man, who just smiled his creepy smile in response. When Tia looked back at the sword, it was sheathed in a light blue scabbard. It had a darker shade of blue string near where the hilt touched it. She could use that to tie it to her waist. She did just that, loving how it looked on her.

"That sword will do what you will it too. Use it well, Seven" Creepy man said before he turned off the case light and pushed her back out. He pushed her back out of the store and slammed the door behind her. She scowled at the closed door and started walking, happy with her new sword, though a little confused with what he said. Great Demons? Sword of the devil? And the way he called her 'Seven'. Tia shook her head. Well, she'd find out sometime in her life.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello everyone! Sorry it took me so long to post this. The wait is over and the new chapter is here! **

**I do not own One Piece or the idea of demons with tails.**

**Taffdog19943: Did I? Thank you for telling me! I'll get right on that. **

**Portgas D. Paula: I know it was odd. I'd explain why the guy called her Seven, but that would be a spoiler, so I can't do that. Just know that it was something random and is a part of the plot. You'll know why soon.**

**UNICORNSPOORAINBOWS: LOL. I wanted to make it seem like Tia was (somewhat) like a dog. If I told you why, that would be a spoiler so I can't do that. My dog likes to stick his head out the window of the car. It so cute to watch his ears flap in the wind. Lol.**

**A special thanks to all of you who have favorited/altered me as an author, or this story. You're all so great!**

**A thanks to all those people who have viewed this story. You're all great! Hugs for everyone!**

**Tia: ON WITH THAT SHOW!**

* * *

After Tia's visit to Creepy Man's weapon store, she walked around (finding her way back to the main street) she saw a clothing store. _'Well, why not?'_ went through her mind as she headed toward it. She bought a lot of clothes and because of that, she felt a little guilty (she had gotten carried away with all the beautiful colors and designs) and so she left the shop with a lot of bags on her arms and in her hands. Even though it should have been heavy for a normal human, it was easy for her to carry it.

As she walked along, she noticed that the people on the street where all moving in one direction. Following the crowd, she walking into an open square. _'Must be the main square… or something'_ Tia thought as she looked around. Then she saw Zoro, Nami, Usopp and Sanji, the latter two carrying this big tasty looking fish.

"HEEEYYY!" Tia yelled as she ran over. All four looked over at her, with surprised (and relieved) expressions.

"Tia! There you are" Nami said, her face relaxing into a smile. Tia smiled in return. Then she noticed the missing person. It seemed, the rest did to.

"Hey" Usopp said.

"Ah" Nami sounded like she remembered something.

"Hm?" Zoro looked around for their idiot captain. Tia was looking too and that's when she saw him. She was too shocked to say anything, though.

"So where is he?" Zoro asked, looking relaxed (_what is with that?_?).

"He said he wanted to check out the execution stand…" Nami said thoughtfully.

"Isn't the execution stand right here in the town square?" Sanji asked. Tia finally found her voice, pointing over to the stand; she said "H-he's right t-there!"

Luffy's head and hands where caught in an old fashioned head hold made of wood on top of the execution stand. To tell the truth, he looked really pathetic like that, but she wouldn't say that about her captain, so she banished the thought before it got out her mouth.

"WHA! WHY THE HELL IS HE ON THE EXECUTION STAND!?"

Tia noticed a guy that looked like a clown (he had a red nose and make up…) standing on the execution stand with Luffy. Clown Guy had his foot on the wooden board holding Luffy to the stand.

"FOR THE CRIME OF ANGERING ME, I SENTENCE YOU, MONKEY D. LUFFY, TO A FLASHY EXECUTION!" She heard the clown Guy stand. The pirates in the square (that Tia just now noticed) pulled out guns and threatened the people, telling them to stand where they are and watch. She noticed Clown Guy and Luffy talking then Clown Guy yelled out "YOUR FLASHY EXECUTION SHALL NOW BE CARRIED OUT FOR THE WHOLE PUBLIC TO SEE!" His yelled was making Tia's ears ring, he was that loud. The group of 5 split up then, Sanji and Zoro going to save Luffy and Tia, Nami and Usopp going back to the ship. Tia had picked up the heavy side of the fish, firmly reminding herself to _not_ eat it raw, and ran along behind Usopp. She was able to yell at Sanji and Zoro "SAVE LUFFY! NO MATTER WHAT!"

"Why're you in such a rush for? Shouldn't we be trying to save Luffy back there?" Usopp inquired of Nami. Tia could smell something different with the wind. Rain… a lot of rain was heading there way.

"What use would _we_ be back there?"

"We could back them up! I'll have you know that I took down a fishman officer all by myself!"

"Well, we've got something more important to worry about."

"More important?"

"A storm is headed for this island." Nami said seriously.

"What?" Usopp sounded shocked.

"I can second that! I can smell the rain headed in this direction" Tia called to the other two, wrinkling her nose. She didn't like the smell of a lot of moisture in the air. It clogged up her nose and made it hard to breath.

"You can smell…?" Nami sounded shocked.

"Yeah. It stuffs up my nose, though and makes it hard to breathe" Tia had switched to breathing with her mouth all ready. The smell was strong.

"Anyway, the air pressure and temperature's been dropping for the past while now. Not only that, I was cumulus clouds heading from the east. That's a sure sign of a storm. With that ruckus going on in the town square, the marines are sure to come out. What would we do if our ship happened to wash away when we needed to run away?" With Nami's speech about weather over, Usopp speed up his running, causing Tia to speed up too, or else the (yummy looking…) fish would have been pulled out of her hands and damaged. Sanji would have blamed Usopp and that wouldn't be pretty.

"Holly crap, you're right! That _is_ important" Usopp said as he sped up.

"H-HEY! WAIT FOR ME!" Nami yelled, speeding up as well. They continued running, complaining the whole way (Nami was). It was around this time that Tia's sensitive hearing picked up Luffy's voice. He was shouting really loudly at that (most likely for her sake) but it sounded like a barely-there whisper to her.

"ZORO! SANJI! USOPP! NAMI! TIA! SORRY, BUT IT LOOKS LIKE I'M DEAD!" It sounded to Tia like he was grinning. Tia's legs almost locked from shock. She stumbled, and then regained her balance.

"Tia?" Usopp had felt her trip.

"Tia, what's wrong?" Nami sounded concerned.

"N-nothing" Tia said, forcing her legs to move. No need to scare the other two. That was when light struck at a _very_ large scale. Tia, again, almost lost her balance again, but continued running. From all the panicked voices, it sounded like it was coming from the town square. Tia then couldn't hear anything from the square. She was out of range. That was when it started pouring. The group of 3 made it to the merry, to see a weird man and a _lion(?)_ near that ship.

"It looks like that man has a… match box!" Tia said, narrowing her eyes to see through the rain and then they widened when she recognized what he was holding. The weird man was also talking about setting the ship on fire.

"WHAT?" Usopp yelled, before he ran out, yelling at the two "HEY YOU! GET AWAY FROM THAT SHIP!" This caused the weird man to fall and hit his head off the side of the ship. Tia watched Usopp's mouth drop, before he turned to where Nami and herself where hiding and saying all smug-like "L-look! I finished him off!"

"The lion's still left, you know!" Nami had to remind him. Tia ran just as Usopp ready an attack and Tia kicked the lion's ribs, sending it into Usopp's shot, which happened to be an egg. The lion started licking its fur, going for the egg. As it does that, Tia ran back with Usopp and both grabbed the fish and made a bee-line for the ship.

"Now's our chance!" Usopp said. They ran to the ship, Usopp in the lead. He climbed up, Tia right after him after they got the fish on-board. Nami came next with Tia's help. After said 'Thank You's, the 3 got the ship moving. Tia moved where Nami told her too, as Tia had no idea (what-so-ever) how to move a ship.

"The waves are crashing higher and higher! Are they still not back yet?" Usopp asked.

"I can't see them!" Tia answered back, keeping her eyes open she any sign of the 3.

"I wonder if they're all right?" Nami questioned, sounding worried.

"Have faith! Their all very strong" Tia answered, her eyes trained on the shore. After a few minutes, Tia spotted them.

"There they are!" Tia yelled, spotting them before Nami or Usopp could.

"Luffy!" Usopp yelled when he saw him. Usopp was holding onto the rope that was attacked to the ground. "Hurry up! This rope won't hold for much longer!"

"Look at all this rain!" Luffy commented. It looked like he was ignoring Usopp.

"NAMI, TIA, I'M BAAAAAAACK!" Sanji yelled out, his arms in the air. Tia just had to roll her eyes.

"What took you so long?! Hurry up and get on board! We're setting sail immediately!" Nami yelled at him. The 3 got on board and got the ship into gear and they set sail. Tia made sure to stay out of the way of the running around people, until Nami order her to help out. Tia ended up pulling on a rope to the sail, keeping it steady. She made extra care to not break it (or the sail) Surprisingly, Tia didn't get sea sick, even though the ship felt like it was going to flip over, with all the rocking and wave riding.

"YAHOO! The ship feels like it'll flip right over!" Luffy yelled once everyone was secured and done with. They were all standing on the front deck, Luffy sitting on the rail, Nami and Sanji leaning against it. Tia was standing in between Usopp and Zoro.

"The entrance to the Grand Line is just up ahead of that light!" Nami said, pointing out the lighthouse. Tia could barely see it. "So what shall we do?"

"D-don't you guys think that entering the Grand Line in the mist of this storm is a bit…" Usopp was shaking all over, even his nose was shaking.

Sanji brought out a barrel, placing it in the middle of the deck as he said "So we've reach the Grand Line, have we? This called for a celebration!" Tia smiled. She couldn't agree more.

"GUYS!?" Usopp sounded really scared now.

"To find All Blue." Sanji put his foot on the barrel.

"To become the Pirate king!" Luffy was next. Tia's mind was whirling. What was her dream?

"To be the greatest swordsman…" Zoro now. Tia then thought of one. Maybe, since she didn't really belong anywhere, she could go to find a place to belong? She did want that.

"To draw a map of the world!" Nami said, placing her foot on the barrel as well. There were two spots left. Usopp stepped up next.

"T… T-to become a brave warrior of the seas!" Usopp said. Tia stepped up next, biting her lip.

"To… find a place where I belong!" Tia said, placing her foot along with the others. Lifting all their legs at the same time, they all said "OFF TO THE GRAND LINE WE GO!"

-CRUNCH-

Bring their feet down, they distorted the barrel. After that, they all went their separate ways. Tia went to the storage room from the lower deck (it's directly under the lounge room and leads to the woman's room and the bathroom) lifting the trap door (for lack of a better word…) she walked down the stairs into the woman's room. Once there, she went through all the cloths she had bought and pulled out a rain jacket, which she put on. Grabbing Nami's rain jacket, she ran back to the deck, giving the jacket to Nami. Luffy was hanging upside down on Merry's figure head.

"NAMI, THIS IS BAD! THE LIGHT JUST WENT OUT!" Luffy said. Tia couldn't see his face, but he sounded panicked. "And that was our guiding light too! What do we do now?"

"Well it _is_ only a lighthouse. It can go out from time to time. Besides, it's for times like these you have a navigator, you know? So don't worry. I know the basic direction as least" Nami said to the captain. Luffy was not hanging off of Merry's figurehead using his hands right-side up. Tia saw him swinging his legs. Tia left the two then, walking into the Lounge to get out of the rain. She really disliked the rain. Tia sat down at the table and starting wringing her hair dry.

After a few minutes, Nami gathered the other crew members into the lounge for a meeting.

"The entrance to the Grand Line is a mountain." Nami said, placing the map on the table. She was standing at the head. Tia was sitting next to Usopp. Luffy had a glass in his mouth. Zoro was sitting next to Luffy with his head on one of his hands elbow on the table. Sanji was leaning against the counter in the kitchen section.

"A MOUNTAIN!?"

Usopp looked unbelieving. Tia had a carefully blank face, but on the inside, she was gapping with disbelief. Sanji had a disbelieving look on his face as well. Zoro hid his surprise well. Luffy looked unaffected (of course).

"Exactly. I had a hard time believing it myself when I looked at the map, but look! The light of guidance was directly pointing at Reverse Mountain located here on the Red Line" Nami pointed at the map and everyone leaned in to see what she was pointing at.

"Does that mean we have to crash through the mountain?"

"No. There's a waterway right here" Nami said, pointing it out.

"A waterway? That's crazy!" Usopp said, with a disbelieving look. "Even is that waterway really is there, there's no way a ship could climb up a mountain!"

"But that's what the map says" Nami countered.

"That's right. As if what Nami says could ever be wrong!" Sanji defended Nami's honour.

"But isn't that the map you stole from Buggy? How dependable could it be?" Zoro questioned.

"We should trust Nami. Besides, it's the navigator that makes sure that we doing sail through to bad weather" Tia inputted.

"Are we really gonna climb up a mountain on a ship? That sounds soooo cool!" Luffy said, with his trade-mark grin on his face. "So it's a magic mountain, huh?"

"In the first place, why do we even have to enter directly through the entrance anyways? Couldn't we just head directly south and still enter?" Zoro asked. He did raise a good point. Tia had read something about the Grand Line before, but she couldn't remember what it was. She felt eyes on her then and turned to see Zoro starting at her. Or more precisely, her sword. His eyes where narrowed, his hand grapping his own swords, as if he sensed danger nearby. He raised his eyes to look directly into Tia's questioning eyes. She opened her mouth to ask what was wrong, but he shook his head, his eyes warning. Guess that means they were going to talk about it later. This all took about a second.

"NO WE CAN'T!" Luffy yelled, pointing at Zoro, bring Tia back into the conversation.

"That's right and there's a perfectly good read for that" Nami put in.

"IT'S SO MUCH COOLER TO GO IN USING THE REAL ENTRANCE!"

-BAM-

"That's not the reason!" Nami said as she hit their captain's head.

"Wait, wha? Guys! The storm suddenly stopped!" Usopp called over, looking out the window.

"Hey, you're right." Sanji commented.

"What? That can't be… That storm should have directly led us to the entrance" Nami said as she and everyone else piled out onto the deck.

"Wow, such a nice day!"

"I wonder what happened to the storm?"

"HAHAHAHA!"

"It's so very calm it almost seems false" Tia commented as she looked around and it was true. From what she could feel, there was no wind, the ship wasn't moving, and there was no smell of rain in the air at all.

"OH NO! WE'VE ENTERED THE CALM BELT…!" Nami yelled with a scared face, her eyes wide and mouth hanging open.

"Calm Belt?"

"What's that?

"Hey, look. Even though the storm's still going on over there, it's perfectly calm over here…"

"THIS IS NO TIME TO BE JUST STANDING AROUND! Go grab the oars and start rowing as fast as you can! We have to return back to the storm immediately!" Nami yelled at the men. Tia was half listening. She could hear movement under the boat, big movement. She walked over to the side of the ship and looked over into the ocean. Something was under the ship, but Tia wasn't sure what.

"As you wish, Nami~~!" Sanji cooed.

"What're you getting so worked up about? And you know this is a sail ship, not a rowboat, right?" Luffy asked.

"Why would we even want to go back into the storm?" Usopp said.

"But the weather's so nice here…" Zoro commented, looking out at the sea.

"Fine, then I'll give you your explanation! Right now, we've drifted south exactly as you suggested doing!" Nami said, pointing at Zoro.

"Oh, so we're in the Grand Line now?" Zoro said, looking shocked and pleased.

"IF IT WHERE THAT EASY, ANYBODY COULD JUST COME TO THE GRAND LINE WHENEVER THEY WANTED!" Nami yelled at him.

"Uh… guys?" Tia asked, still looking down in the water.

"Listen! The Grand Line is surrounded by two ocean belts" Nami started explaining where they were.

"Guys?" Tia asked again, looking slightly panicked.

"And those two windless belts known as the Calm Belts are exactly where we're stuck in right now!" Nami continued.

"GUYS!" Tia yelled getting the other's attention. She pointed out at the sea and stated "There's something under the boat." That was when the shaking started.

"AHH! Is this an earthquake?" Luffy asked as the entire ship started vibrating. Tia almost fell off when the ship lurched into the air. She grabbed the railing to steady herself as the ship stopped moving. That was when Tia noticed all the sea kings that had surfaced. She also noticed the ship was on top of a big cow looking one. All the other pirates had scared-out-of-their-mind looks.

"This place is a den… for the Sea Kings…" Nami said, crying anime tears and hugging the mast. The sea king they were riding on moved its head to the left, probably looking for the thing that it felt on its nose.

Zoro, Sanji and Luffy had all grabbed oars.

"A… Alright… As soon as this thing dives back down into the sea, start rowing your arms off, got it?" Zoro said, looking scared.

"AYE AYE!"

-A...-

"**?**_**?**_**"**

-CHOO!-

"_**!**_**!**"

"**WHAAAAAAAA!?"**

The ship flew off the sea kings nose when it sneezed. Now, the ship was airborne. Tia was holding onto the railing, screaming like her life depended on it. Here feet weren`t touching the deck anymore. Everyone else was in the air as well.

"AGHHHHHHH!"

That was when a giant frog (_"ribbit"_) spotted the ship and decided it was a good snack. It jumped after the pirate ship, it's mouth wide open.

"AGHH! A GIANT FROG IS JUMPING THIS WAY!"

"DON'T GET THROWN OVERBOARD!"

"USOPP JUST FELL!"

"USOOOOOOOPPPPP!" Luffy yelled as he stretched his arm over to the fallen Usopp. He grabbed the long-nose scared-y cat. After a bit more of flying, the made it back into the storm all in one piece. Tia was gripping the rail so hard, it left indentions where her hand was. She let go of the railing, so as to keep from breaking it.

"AHHHHHHH!'

-SPLASH-

-CRACK!- -RUMBLE- -RUMBLE-

"Oh thank God… We're back in the storm now…" Luffy panted, sounding exhausted. They were all lying on the lower deck, physically and emotionally drained. Luffy was laying face up, his hand on Usopp's back, who was lying face down. Sanji was spread-eagle on the deck. Zoro was sitting against the mast, his head between his knees. Nami was laying on her front. Tia (who had fallen down to lower deck when the ship had landed) was lying on her back, breathing hard through her mouth.

"Now do you understand why we have to use the entrance?" Nami asked.

"Yeah… Understood…" Zoro answered. They stayed like that, laying/sitting there for a few minutes, getting back their breaths. Then Nami said up, a figurative light-bulb turning on above her head.

"Ah, I got it…!" Nami said.

"What?" Zoro asked, sense he was closer. Everyone was starting to get up now, having finished their small break.

"We really are going to climb up the mountain!" Nami answered,

"You still going on about that?" Zoro asked, rising his head to talk to her.

Nami went on a navigation speech about currents and the four seas and mountains… Tia got the gist of it, but tuned out most of it. Luffy was listening with his hand on his chin, trying to look smart.

"So basically, you're saying that it's a magic mountain, right?" Luffy asked.

"I shouldn't have expected you to understand…" Nami said.

"Nami, you're amazing~!" Sanji swooned, hearts coming from his persona. Zoro and Sanji started talking then about how dangerous going up the mountain it. Tia remembered when she had heard stories of the Grand Line. She had been fascinated by it. She had heard of the random weather, the strange islands, and the danger there. She loved every second of hearing it.

"I SEE THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN!" Luffy yelled.

"WAIT! WHAT'S THE HUGE SHADOW!?" Usopp yelled his jaw dropping.

"That must be the Red Line" Tia commented, following it up into the clouds. One word for it was _red_. It was so _red_. Guess that's where it got its name, but still.

"I CAN'T EVEN SEE THE TOP BECAUSE OF THE CLOUDS!"

"GET A GOOD GRIP OF THE RUDDER SO WE DON'T GET DRAGGED DOWN UNDER!" Luffy shouted his command. Sanji and Usopp both ran and grabbed a hold of the rudder, yelling "Just leave it to us!"

Nami was starting with a muttered "Amazing." Zoro had binoculars and was watching the water flow up the mountain. Tia was standing next to him, watching the water as well. She didn't need binoculars, thanks to her enchanted sight.

"I can't believe it… The ocean is… (_"IT'S THE ENTRANCE TO THE WATERWAY!"_) Really going up a mountain…" Zoro said, interrupted by Luffy half-way through his sentence.

"We're veering off course! Turn a little to the right!" Luffy yelled directions.

"Right!? Turn starboard!" Usopp said as Sanji and him pushed the rudder starboard with obvious strain.

-SNAP-

Luffy's eyes pooped out of his head, Zoro sweat dropped, Nami started crying anime tears and Tia started panicking. Why? Because the rudder broke.

"The rudder just…"

"**WE'RE GONNA CRASH!**"

Luffy jumped off in front of the ship, throwing his hat back to Zoro, who caught it one handed and yelled "GOMU GOMU NO…"

"BALLON!" Luffy inflated himself just before the ship hit the gate. The ship hit Luffy instead and bounced back onto the right current.

"WE'RE SAVED!" Nami yelled.

Zoro leaned against the railing, holding out his hand "Luffy! Grab onto my hand!" Luffy deflated and stretched his arm back over to Zoro and grabbed his hand. Zoro swung his hand around and Luffy landed on the deck, with his head stuck in the wood. Tia giggled a bit at this. Everyone started celebrating and cheering.

"WE DID IT!"

The ship sailed up the current, Tia was laughing with joy and relief. She threw up her arms, and let the wind blow her hair back. It felt amazing. Nami had her jacket in the wind. Luffy was jumping into the air. Usopp had climbed the mast. Sanji was sitting on the roof of the lounge building, where Nami's mikan trees where.

The ship reached the top and bounced into the air. The water was turning into ice as it sprayed into the air. It was a beautiful sight. All the more since her eyes could see a lot more than the normal human.

"YAHOO!"

"Now all we have to do is go down!"

Luffy climbed onto his 'special seat'.

"Whoa…" Tia could see Blue Ocean when she looked off into the distance. The Grand Line.

"OHHH!" Luffy said, before yelling "**I CAN SEE THE GRAND LINE UP AHEAD!**"

Tia smiled to herself, she was filled with excitement. At last, her adventure starts! She knew that in the Grand Line she'll learn just what she is, what powers she has. She'll be able to accomplish her dream! All in the Grand Line!


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello, everyone! I'm very sorry for the long wait. I was busy with school work and such. I wrote this as fast as I could so I could get it up just as fast. Also recently I've been into Blue Exorcist (Ao No Exorcist) and have fallen for Rin 3 Anyway, time to respond to the reviews!**

**Portgas D. Paula: I'm sooo sorry for taking sooo long! I'll try to do better next time!**

**UNICORNSPOORAINBOWS: I'm glad you liked the chapter! Here is another one! Though it is very late. *bows* I'm very sorry about that!**

**A special thanks to those who have altered/favorited this story or me as an auothor. You are all awesome people!**

**A thanks to those who read this story! You are all great people!**

**Tia: You took waaaaaay to long this time. *stern look***

**Lily: I'm so very sorry! **

**Tia: *fusterated sigh* Oh well, it's here now. Lily doesn't own One Piece or the idea of demons with tails!**

**Lily: Enjoy the new chapter!**

* * *

Tia stood by Luffy's special seat, holding onto the railing, as the ship sailed down Reverse Mountain. She could see the blue of the ocean up ahead. Smiling in joy and anticipation, she looked over at Luffy, who was hanging onto Merry's figure head.

"So this is the Grand Line, the greatest sea in the world…!" Luffy had a hand raised over his eyes as he looked out onto the sea.

"FULL SPEED AHEAD!"

***BUOOOH!***

A very very _very_ loud voice (to her) sounded in the air, causing Tia to shriek in pain and fall down onto her knees, her hands over her ears. It was goddamned _loud_!

"What's wrong with Tia?" Nami asked, watching the demon girl.

"Did you hear something just now?" Zoro asked Tia, Luffy and Nami.

"WHO CARES! WOOOHOOO!" Luffy yelled.

"I wouldn't be surprised if that's just the wind. The terrain here is quite odd, after all. Plus, it's probably a lot louder to Tia, thanks to her hearing" Nami commented.

***BUOOHHH!***

Tia winced as the voice sounded again. Usopp, who was sitting on the Merry's main mast, had seen something and was now checking to see if what he saw was true or not.

"What's that…?" Usopp muttered to himself, with the right lens of his goggles over his right eye.

"Nami! There's a mountain up ahead!" Sanji reported. There was, indeed a mountain looking thing ahead. Tia lifted herself off the floor so she could see and when she did, she froze in shock, her jaw dropping.

"A mountain? That can't be! Once we pass the twin capes up ahead, we should reach open sea!" Nami said to Sanji, turning around to look at him.

***BUOOHHHHH!* **

"ACK!" Tia yelled again, wincing and covering her ears, while she leaned against the railing for support.

"Hm?" Luffy had his hand to his forehead again. It looked like he was trying to see by blocking out the sun... or something.

"THAT'S NO MOUNTAIN!"

"**IT'S A WHALE!"**

***BUOOOHHHH!***

"WHAT SHOULD WE DO!?"

"SHOULD WE FIGHT!?"

"ARE YOU KIDDING? HOW THE HECK ARE WE SUPPOSED TO FIGHT SOMETHING THAT BIG?"

"BUT IT'S BLOCKING OUR WAY!"

"We're too close to see anything! It looks like a giant wall! Where are its eyes?" Sanji said, his teeth gripping his cig for dear life.

Tia would have said something to that, but her head was ringing, and she couldn't exactly hear right. Everything sounded warped.

"How dare that whale do this to Tia-Chan! I'll make sure he regrets it" Sanji said to himself. Nami was sitting by Tia, holding onto the poor demon, making sure she didn't fall off.

"Ah, that's right! Maybe the whale just hasn't noticed us yet!" Nami said her hands on Tia's back as Tia lay on the ground, trying to fix her hearing. Everything sounded warped, but she could just make out words, so she had a vague idea about what was going on.

"Well if we don't do anything soon, we're gonna crash! There's an open space up left! Turn portside!" Zoro said, pointing out the pirate's only escape.

"But the rudder's broken!" Usopp yelled.

"Well we've gotta do something! I'll come help too!" And with that, Zoro jumped over the railing and went to help Usopp with the broken rudder. How Usopp got off the mast and down onto the deck that fast, Tia didn't know. Since the whale seemed to be calming down now, Tia's hearing was finally fixing itself. She pushed herself up, ignored Nami's worried gaze and grunted "I'm fine now."

"THAT'S IT! I'VE GOT A PLAN!" Luffy yelled as he took off. Nami followed to the railing so she could watch him run into the cannon room under the front deck.

"What is it, Luffy?" Nami asked. Tia stood up and stumbled. She grabbed the railing for support. Looks like her legs weren't as steady as she thought…

Usopp, Zoro and Sanji where chanting "LEEEFFFTTT" as they tried to get the ship to turn, to no avail. Tia watched the whale get closer and closer, freaking out herself.

"It's no good! The rudder won't budge!"

That was when the front cannon went off.

*BOOOM*

"THE CANNON…!?"

*CRACK*

The ship had slowed down, and stopped just before it hit the whale, but Merry's figure head had connected and thus broke off. _'Luffy's not gonna be happy about that…' _Tia thought to herself. Nami was on her knees, just under the flight path of the figure head. She was in shock, it was obvious. As for Tia, she had been off to the side, so she didn't get hit.

"**MY SPECIAL SEAT!**" Luffy yelled in rage and shock. Everyone was just sitting there, waiting for the whale to react. There was a long moment of silence as everyone and everything (including the whale) just sat there.

…

"Now's our chance! Run for it!" The boys got the oars and started rowing like all hell was on their tails. Pun intended.

"What's with this thing!? Did it not even feel that cannonball just now!?"

"Maybe it's just really slow!"

"Who the hell cares! Let's get outta here!"

***BUOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH~!* **

"AGHHH! MY EARS!" Tia, as well as Sanji, screamed.

"Row! Just row as fast as you can!" Usopp yelled.

"We've got to get away from this thing" Zoro called over. He was one-manning an oar. How strong is the guy anyway?

Nami was sitting by Tia again, since Tia was leaning on the rail, a little blood trickled out of her ears.

"Huh?" Nami asked as she saw Luffy.

"How dare… You destroy…" Luffy was winding back his hand as he talked "MY SPEACIAL SEAT!" He attacked the whale's visible eye (which was as big as Merry) with a punch.

"**THAT IDIOT!**" was the other's reactions.

The whale's pupil moved down to look at the tiny ship.

"IT SAW US!"

Tia's hearing was now back to normal and she was standing again. She wiped the blood away, and looked back at Luffy with a death glare, then sent one at the whale. Really, the shit she had to go through…

Luffy (and the whale) ignored her, though.

"COME AT ME, YOU BASTARD!" Luffy looked ready to start a fight. Zoro and Usopp kicked Luffy's head, though with a yelled "JUST SHUT THE HELL UP ALREADY!" Tia walked away from the whale, toward the railing that kept people from falling onto the lower deck.

Time slowed down and Tia started seeing things in not moving images, but pictures in this order.

The whale opened its mouth and started sucking water.

Luffy fell off.

Tia fell with him.

"AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"LUFFY! TIA!_!_"

Tia grabbed onto Luffy, since it was the only soil thing around her.

"AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHH!"

* * *

"… well, what am I supposed to do now?" Tia said to herself. She was sitting on the left side of the twin capes. She wasn't exactly sure what had happened, either. She remembered holding onto Luffy, but went he swung onto the whale; she was flung into the ocean. When she saw the blue directly in front of her, she took a deep breath, held it and with a splash, she hit the water. After that, everything got fuzzy.

Thinking back, she remembered the weakness that came with being a devil fruit user. She also felt the sensation of being carried. Then she woke up on solid ground.

…

"ARGGG!" Tia yelled, scratching her head in frustration. She fell back on the ground, with her arms and legs spread out. She started at the sky, her eyes half lidded. God, she was so tired…

* * *

She only knew that she was dreaming for the fact that she was floating in the sea, and she didn't feel weak. In fact, she could even move. Wow, who knew swimming was so much fun!

After an unknown amount of time, Tia broke the surface and found herself on a green paradise. Literally, it looked like heaven. Tia started from where she floated in the water, her mouth agape, and her eyes wide.

"Come on now. Out of the water before you catch cold" A kind voice said off to her right. Tia looked there and got the second shock of her life.

A girl stood there, long blonde scarlet-streaked hair tumbling down in an elegant way around her frame. She had startling bright and deep brown eyes. She was wearing a red, yellow and orange knee length dress. She was holding out a hand to Tia, a gently looking smile on her face.

Tia reached out and gripped the girl's hand. The girl pulled Tia (such amazing strength for her small frame) out of the water and onto the ground. Tia sat down and shook out her hair.

"You must be Tia Xene Angeliki, correct?" The girl asked. Tia's brain was still dead, so she just nodded. The girl's face broke into a happy and proud smile.

"FINALLY! I found the right girl!" The girl did a little victory dance. She seemed like the kind of girl that said whatever came into her head.

"Uhhhh…" Tia said, the gears in her head finally starting to work. That was when she noticed the pointed ears, small fangs and the tail, simalar to her own. Her reaction?

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHH!" Tia screamed and made a break for it. In mid-step, her body froze. Literally froze, like unable to move an inch, froze.

"Now, now. None of that! Don't want you to hurt yourself. Calm down and I will explain why I am here" The girl said, walking around the frozen Tia. Girl snapped her fingers and Tia comically fell on her front.

"Ouch" Tia said as she set up. The girl sat down again, her legs folded under her. Girl's tail flicked into view. Now Tia could get a good look at it. It was long and black, like Tia's and had a permanent curled part at the end. The curled part was tainted scarlet. That looked strange to Tia, seeing as her own was all black.

"Good. Now, I am here to…" Girl looked thoughtful for a second, and then said "Well, mostly to make sure the seventh Great Demon was still alive and well. And so you are!" Tia started at Girl for a second.

"Um, how about telling me who you are?" Tia asked.

"Oh! Good idea!" Girl answered. Tia sweat dropped to herself as Girl said "So, I am the fifth Great Demon. I am currently living on an island paradise for Demons of all kinds. If you are wondering who saved you from the ocean that was my familiar. It is a sea type dragon!" Girl smiled happily at that.

"D-d-d-DRAGON?!_?!_" Tia stuttered (for the first time in her life) in surprise.

"Uh-huh! Dragon familiars are very common among the 12 Great Demons! You will most likely get one soon yourself!" Girl nodded to herself, a hand to her chin.

"OK… So you saved my life?" Tia asked. Girl nodded. Tia put on a grateful smile and said "Thank you."

"No problem! No problem! Anyway, I'm going to link our unconscious minds together so we can share dreams together!" Girl said, way too happily.

"Wait! Hold on a second-"

"DONE~!" Girl yelled in happiness. Then she looked over at Tia and asked innocently "You did not want that? Sorry, but it is irreversible!" Tia fell on her face for the second time that day and resisted the urge to punch something. Oh well. At least she had met one of her own kind.

"The Queen wants to meet you when you have the time. So I ask you in her place. Once you have sailed through the Grand Line to reach my home, will you stop by and visit?" Girl said, smiling. This girl seemed to smile a lot. Like Luffy. _'Queen?'_ Tia thought to herself.

"Well, it all depends on my captain" Tia told Girl. Girl nodded understandingly.

"_WAKE UP, TIA!"_

"_MY BEAUTIFUL TIA-CHWAN LOOKS SO BEAUTIFUL IN SLEEP~~!"_

_-BAM- "SHUT UP, DUMBASS!"_

"_TIA! WAKE UP! IT'S DINNER TIME!" _

"_LUFFY, THAT ONLY WORKS FOR YOU!" _

Tia and Girl looked up at the blue sky after hearing the yelling voices. It probably wasn't yelling in real life, but in the dream, it was yelling.

"It looks like your friends want you to wake up~" Girl sang and she stood up. Tia stood up as well. "Remember; don't tell them about this dream. Don't tell them about who saved you, either. You do not want them getting in too deep" Girl winked, snapped her figures and Tia felt herself waking up.

"Wait! I don't know your name!" Tia called out, only for Girl to wink and disappear. Basically saying 'ask me next time~'. Tia let out a frustrated growl as the dream world melted away and she entered the waking world.

Tia opened her eyes with a gasp to see the faces of her crew starting down at her.

"Good, you're awake" Nami said as Tia looked around, trying to get her bearings. She was lying on the cape, the place by the ocean where she had fallen asleep. Tia sat up and stretched, flicking her tail as well, getting rid of all the soreness of sleep. The boys went to help an old man set up some tables and chairs. Nami helped Tia stand and led her over to the table. That was when Tia really noticed the old man.

"Ah. Who's the old man?" Tia asked, pointing.

"His name is Crocus" Nami answered. Tia bowed to Crocus, saying "Nice to meet you."

"A demon with manners. First time I've seen one" Crocus commented, looking thoughtful. A confused look entered everyone's face at that.

"AH! Tia! Your tail!" Usopp yelled, pointing. Tia blinked, and then looked behind her, to her in plain sight tail. With a mumbled "shit!" she grabbed her tail and hid it behind her back, turning to look at Crocus, planning to say that she wasn't dangerous or anything.

"No need to worry. I know a few demons myself. Judging by the light blue in your hair, you're a Great Demon, right?" Crocus asked, smiling. Tia nodded slowly, letting go of her tail. "You must be looking for the demon paradise. I hear it's really hard to find, so good luck to you."

"Um, thanks" Tia said slowly. Luffy, Usopp and Sanji all looked confused with question marks above their heads. Nami looked thoughtful and Zoro just looked blank.

They sat down at the table. The others started talking about the whale and a pirate group. Tia tuned them out and thought about that dream. She had finally met one of her own kind and doesn't even know the girl's name. On top of that, a Queen wanted to see Tia. Plus the things she had learned about dragon familiars. Girl had said that Tia would get one soon. _'I wonder what my dragon familiars going to be like…'_

"UOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHH!" Luffy yelled as he shot toward the ship. It snapped Tia out of her trance. She watched Luffy take the mast of the Merry and start climbing up Laboon's body.

"Huh?" Nami asked.

"What's that idiot up to now?" Usopp questioned.

"Take your eyes off him for one second and…" Zoro commented.

"Maybe he just likes climbing things?" Sanji asked as all four of them just sat there, watching Luffy's progress.

"I wouldn't put that past him" Tia said in answer to Sanji's question.

They watched as Luffy made it to the top of Laboon and slammed the mast onto a fresh wound on Laboon's nose.

"Hey, is that a mast?" Zoro asked. _'They finally noticed it"_ Tia thought to herself.

"Yeah, I think it's our ships…" Sanji said, smoking rising in the air from his cig.

"Yup, it's our main mast, alright" Usopp commented calmly. Tia sweat dropped at the 3 men. Jeez, they were acting really dense.

***BUOOOOHHHH* **

Laboon yelled in pain and started shaking it's head back and fore, trying to get rid of the mast sticking in its nose.

"WHAT THE HELL IS HE DOING!?"

"HE DESTORYED OUR SHIP!" Usopp started crying for the Merry. Luffy was screaming as he held onto the mast. Tia saw Laboon's eye (the one she could see) change. Tia's eyes widened a bit, and then she made a break for it, running to side of the lighthouse and as far from Laboon as was possible.

"What's wrong, Tia?"

"AGHHHHHH!"

"It's coming this way!"

"He's going to crash down here!"

Laboon jumped out of the water, and onto the land, landing with his nose down effectively crushing the rubber-man on the ground.

"Hey! Hey, kid!" Crocus yelled as he started to where Luffy was.

"It's too dangerous! Don't worry about him, he won't die!" Nami held the old man back. Laboon yelled again and went for Luffy, but Luffy dodged the whale and punched his eye. Laboon smacked Luffy into the lighthouse and Luffy landed on the ground. He was breathing hard.

"Luffy! Just what the hell are you doing?" Zoro yelled.

***BUOOOHHH!***

Laboon made his way to Luffy again, planning to flatten him when Luffy yelled "IT'S A TIE!" Laboon stopped and started.

"I'm pretty tough, eh?" Luffy asked with an exhilarated smile that could only come from fighting a strong opponent. "Our fight has yet to be settled, so we must fight each other again! Your old friends may be dead, but I'm your new rival! And once my crew sails around the Grand Line, we'll be sure to come back here to see you again." Laboon started crying now. Tia smiled lightly. Her captain sure was amazing. "AND THEN WE'LL DUKE IT OUT AGAIN!"

Everyone smiled at that.

***BUOOOOOHHHHH!***

Laboon sounded happy, too. Tia sighed to herself and walked back over to the table, sitting down again. The fight was over for now, so she could relax. Her mind went to the fish that was in storage and her mouth started to water. She couldn't wait to eat it. Tia watch Luffy get a huge paintbrush, huge paint cans and start to draw a very bad version of their pirate flag.

When Luffy was painting, Usopp went to fix the ship, Sanji went to cooking, Nami started to chart out their navigation route and Zoro? He grabbed Tia's arm and dragged her over to a secluded part of the cape.

"What? What do you want?" Tia asked in irritation.

"I want to know about that sword" Zoro demanded, pointing at the said sword on Tia's hip. Tia blinked at him, twice as she grabbed her new sword.

"What about it?" Tia asked, suddenly feeling protective of it, though she wasn't sure why.

"There is something not right about it. I want to know where you bought it and why it seems so dangerous to me" Zoro snapped. He was getting annoyed, Tia could tell. Might as well answer his questions.

"Well, this old man running a weapons shop gave it to me. It's named Yedi-Kuyruklu Şeytan and from what he told me, it's a Sword of the Devil. Or something" Tia looked down at her light blue sword. "I don't know why it seems so dangerous to you, so I can't answer that."

Zoro let out a frustrated sigh and said, pointing his finger in her face "If that sword turns out to be any more dangerous then I already think it is, I swear I'll throw it into the ocean" and with that, he stomped to the ship. Tia watched him go, feeling a little miffed. Of course, she knew he was just worried for the crew and her as the swords owner but she didn't feel anything dangerous from the sword.

"You wouldn't hurt me or my friends, would you?" She asked it, her hand tightening around the hilt. She felt an affirmative come from the sword, like it was saying 'I wouldn't hurt them or you.' Tia shook her head and made her way back to the table. It must be the dream that was making her act like a loony. She laughed to herself as she walked. This crew was turning her into a crazy person, but really? Who wouldn't go insane with a captain like Luffy.

* * *

**Boo! Didn't think you'd see me here as well? Well, too bad for you! *sticks tounge out* Anyway, I was thinking of starting another fanfiction, this one on Blue Exorcist, also known as Ao No Exorcist! If you guys want me to, just tell me in your reviews! Also, if you say yes, should Tia star in this fanfiction as well, or should I use a different character? **

**Oh! Before I forget, I also started writing another One Piece fanfiction. If you guys want to read it, just say so and I'll post chapter one on here~! Let me know what you guys think! Have a great day!**


	8. Chapter 8

**I am soooo sorry for taking so long! I was just loaded with stuff to do over christmas and then back when school started again I had homework. Thankfully I'm not as busy now, so here's a new chapter for you! Anyway, I don't own anything besides OCs!**

**kage kitsune 14: I was hoping people would like Tia! :D Sorry for taking so long. **

**Portgas D. Paula: You'll find out in a few chapters! **

**Guest: Thank you! **

**UNICORNSPOORAINBOWS: Hah! I'm still not sure if I should. I love Ao No Excorsit as well and I love Rin! Thank you for loving this chapter!**

**Guest#2: Thank you as well! I'll make sure to continue this story. **

**Girl-luvs-manga: Lol. Something like that. **

**Lunar Radioactive: I'm sorry for taking so long! Thank you! **

**A special thanks to those who have favorited/altered me as an aothour, or this story! You're all awesome!**

**A thanks to those who have read this story and are still reading it! You are all great-awesome!**

* * *

Tia made her way back to the table where Nami was charting their course. From what she saw, Zoro had gone back to the ship. He was most likely asleep now. Tia sighed to herself, shaking her head a bit. Her crewmates where so insane, but this was a fun crew to travel with, that was for sure.

Tia was just wishing to have some form of musical instrument when someone screamed.

"_AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!_!"

Tia ran back to the table as fast as she could, making it there just as Sanji and Usopp climbed up from the ship.

"What? You're being so noisy" Luffy said to Nami. He was holding a giant paintbrush (_where did he get that?_?) and he was covered in paint. It looked almost like he was painting himself, not Laboon. Sanji was holding four plates of fish (it smelled _amazing!_).

"What's the matter, my dear Nami-san? If it's about the meal, then it's all ready~~!" Sanji swooned as he walked (hopped?) on one leg over to the table.

"Ugh… I'll take a brief break from the ship repairs and eat" Usopp said as he climbed up. Zoro didn't show up so he was probably still on the ship, sleeping.

"The compass…! It's broken! It's pointing all over the place!" Nami said, pointing to aforementioned object. Old man Crocus took a look at the compass and started talking.

"Hmm… It appears you've come here without knowing anything. I'm quite amazed. Did you come here to throw your lives away?" Old man Crocus said.

"Ah, time for food?" Luffy asked.

"In your case, it's time for feeding" Sanji replied.

Nami was really the only one listening to Crocus's rambling on about common sense and log poses and magnetic fields. It all sounded like non sense to Tia. Instead, she focused on the fish. She and Luffy began chowing down.

"This… fish… is… AMAZING!" Tia yelled between bites, causing Sanji to go into Love-Cook mode.

At some point during the conversation (that Tia wasn't paying attention to (the fish was that good~), Tia noticed Sanji and Usopp freaking out about something, Luffy commenting on the food, Nami yelling. Apparently Luffy somehow got a log pose, which confused Tia when he commented on it. Was he really paying attention to the conversation? Anyway, so Luffy showed the Log Pose to Crocus, getting the 'yes, that's it' reply and after grabbing some more of the fish gets hit by Nami.

"WHY THE HECK DO YOU HAVE IT?" Nami screamed as she punched Luffy, causing food to spray everywhere and Tia to yelp and pull back from disgust.

"Those two weirdoes from earlier accidentally left it on our ship" Luffy answered.

"Them?" Nami asked, her fist still raised.

"Why'd you hit me?"

"Just felt like I had to"

"Oh"

So that was how Nami got a Log Pose. So Luffy went back to eating and Tia had to start fending off his rubbery limbs as they tried to steal her food from under her nose. It soon turned into a mini food war/contest, Tia wielding a fork (just to use on Luffy is any of his limbs got too close) and Luffy with his hands and Devil fruit power. They were both trying to see who would be able to eat the most. It ended in a tie, with Tia feeling a bit too bloated.

Anyway, throughout Crocus's explanation, that Tia should have been listening too, comments were made by Nami, Sanji and Usopp. Tia didn't follow it and since this is her story in her POV, they will not be written down.

"Enough thinking. We can see for ourselves once we're there!" Luffy said, once the conversation was over, chewing on a bone. Tia was surprised since he really ate the bones. If that counted, he would have won (They had made a silent agreement that only the meat counted). At this time, Tia wanted something to make music with, some form of instrument. She could hear notes going through her head and wanted to put them into the open.

"Ahhh… Should we get going now? I'm finished eating and all" Luffy commented, leaning back in his chair.

"DID YOU JUST EAT EVERYTHING ALL BY YOURSELF?" Sanji yelled, his eyes shooting out of his face, looking kinda like logs, with shark teeth.

"AGHHH! EVEN THE BONES ARE GONE!" Usopp yelled, surprise on his face, his eyes similar to how Sanji's looked.

"No, Tia ate about half!" Luffy defended himself, pointing at the mentioned girl. Said girl looked up, shocked out of her musical trance and blinked.

"Alright, Log Pose… I'll make sure to take good care of you. The fate of our journey is all up to you, after all" Nami was talking to the Log Pose. Isn't that a sign of insanity? Talking to inanimate objects?

"Why you rubber crap head! That food was… was… **FOR NAMI-SAN AND TIA-CHAN TO ENJOY!**" Sanji yelled, enraged at the rubber boy. The cook showed his anger by sending the captain flying with a strong kick, which caused Luffy to sail by Nami. That caused the Log Pose on Nami's arm to break. Tia wasn't exactly sure how it broke, but all that matter was that it broke.

…

-BAM- -BAM-

"**YOU TWO CAN JUST GO COOL YOUR HEADS DOWN IN THE SEA**!" Nami yelled, kicking both Sanji (who was generating hearts) and Luffy over the cliff and into the sea.

"AHHH! WASN'T THAT COMPASS SUPER-DUPER IMPORTANT!?" Usopp yelled his jaw dropping and his eyes shooting out of his head again.

"What do we do, Crocus!? Our precious Log Pose is…!" Nami said, ignoring Usopp and turning to look at Crocus. Tia sat in her chair, calmly watching the chaos, still thinking about music, her tail slowly waging in time with the notes going through her head.

"Don't worry. I'll give you one as a sign of thanks for the matter with Laboon" Crocus answered, smiling knowingly. Tia smiled to herself and thought _'our life saver…'_

Tia then saw Laboon swim over to the shore, splashing four people onto the ground. Wait, four…?

* * *

"I have a request."

Mr. 9 and Miss. Wednesday where kneeling in front of Luffy, who was sitting on the table with his legs crossed. Sanji was standing with his hands in his pockets, Usopp with his arms crossed. Nami was kneeling and Tia was sitting in the exact same chair she first sat into (she hadn't moved an inch).

"Whiskey Peak? What's that?"

"It's… the name of our town"

"So you want us to take you there because you lost your ship?"

"Don't you think that's asking a bit too much, Mr. 9? Especially considering you tried to kill the whale and all" Nami said. _'She's probably going to charge those two…_' Tia thought to herself.

"Just who are you guys, anyway?" Usopp asked, looking suspicious and scared, probably at what his mind had conjured up.

"I'm a king" Mr. 9 answered.

"Liar" Nami said, pinching the 'Kings' cheek.

"We cannot say! But please! Please take us back to our town and we swear we'll return the favour!" Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday said.

"We'd really rather not keep things hush-hush about everything, but 'mystery' is our organization's motto. And so we absolutely cannot tell you anything more. Please help us out from the kindness of your hearts…!" Mrs. Wednesday went on a 'please helps us' speech. Tia felt that she couldn't trust this 'organization' but strangely Miss Wednesday seemed alright to her. Mr. 9, though, she didn't trust him one bit.

"Don't listen to them. They're nothing but trouble" Crocus put in his advice.

Nami decided to mess with them, "Well… we accidentally broke our Log Pose, but do you still want a ride?"

"W-WHAT!? YOU BROKE IT!? AND ISN'T THAT OURS!?"

"HOW DARE YOU TRY TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF OUR MISFORTUNE WHEN YOU'RE **JUST AS** MISFORTUNATE AS WE ARE!?"

"Oh right! I forgot to mention that Crocus here gave us another Log Pose." Nami said, showing the undamaged one.

"We beseech your kindness, madam…" Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday said, getting back down on their knees.

"Ok. They can come along if they want" Luffy said, his face blank. '_Did he think this through at all?_' Tia thought to herself, sweat dropping.

Sanji and Usopp started packing up the ship and getting ready to leave. Nami and Tia stayed on the shore by the ship. Crocus had disappeared somewhere. Nami was looking over a map and the Log Pose. A few minutes later, Crocus reappeared.

"Alright, then… Your Log should have been recorded by now. Is it properly pointing towards a place indicated on the map?" Crocus asked, looking at Nami.

"Yep! It's pointing towards whiskey peak" Nami replied. She climbed onto the ship and Tia was making her way to follow, when Crocus called her back.

"Tia. I've got something to give you." Tia turned back with a confused look on her face. Crocus held out an item that looked like a flute, but it was shorter and had fewer holes in it. It was blue with runes all over it. Tia blinked and took the flute.

"What's this?" She asked as she inspected it. Her tail started wagging at a fast pass, showing her delight.

"That is a demon flute. It's said to play beautiful music and depending on the demon that plays it the sound will change. It was created by one of the demons I know. She told me to keep it until I met a demon with blue in its hair and blue eyes. I believe she was talking about you" Crocus said, nodding to Tia. "Keep that safe and make sure not to damage it."

Tia nodded, smiling to herself. She climbed up onto the ship and once she got one foot on the deck, Luffy and Usopp started bombarding her with questions on what she got. She showed the flute to them, but when Luffy reached to take it, Tia growled and pulled it away from him. He would probably break it.

"You sure about this, kid? Picking whiskey peak all just because of these ruffians… The only place you can choose which route you want to take is here, you know" Crocus said, bring the attention back to him.

"It's fine. If I don't like the route, I can always sail once around and choose a different route" Luffy answered.

"I see…" Crocus said, smiling.

"Bye then, flower gramps" Luffy said.

"Thanks for the Log Pose!" Nami called down.

"Thank you for the flute!" Tia called down, tail in full swing now as she waved good-bye.

"See ya, then" Crocus said.

"WE'RE GOING NOW, WHALE!"

***BUOOOHHHHHHH!***

And with that, they set sail.

* * *

It was a few hours later and it was snowing. Even though it was summer at the twin caps, it was snowing now. Luffy and Usopp where playing in the snow, Sanji was shovelling snow. Zoro was asleep, snowing building around him in a snowy fortress. Tia didn't mind the cold, so she was sitting outside in her normal clothing (jeans and a T-shirt) her tail lazily swinging back and forth. She believes it was because of her body being so high in temperature. If she was human, she'd be having a high fever. There was a circle of no snow around her, since she was like a human furnace.

She held the flute in her hands, trying to get it to play. She'd been trying for an hour now and nothing. No sound. Was it already broken? She wasn't sure. '_Ah, well. I'll ask the dream lady later_' Tia thought to herself, and then mentally kicked herself for looking forward to seeing the mysterious lady in her dreams.

"**AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HH!**"

Tia was up, hand on her sword hilt as she looked around for an enemy to slice down. When she realized there was none, she looked to Nami, who ran outside after she screamed, wondering what was going on.

"W-What is it!?"

"What's the matter, my beloved Nami-san?"

"This can't be happening!" Nami sounded partly horrified and partly disbelieving… Was that possible?

"Turn the ship around 180 degrees! Hurry!" Nami ordered.

"180 degrees? Why're we turning back?" Usopp asked.

"Did we forget something?" Luffy asked.

"No! The ship turned _itself_ around and is now heading directly away from our destination! I only took my eyes off of the Log Pose for a second and the waves were so calm too…!" It seemed like the first part was meant for the others, while the second was more to herself. The too moochers started talking to Nami, being all high and mighty about her mistake.

"**STOP ACTING SO HIGH AND MIGHT AND START HELPING OUT!**"

-BAM-

"AGHH!"

Nami kicked the two freeloaders out onto the deck and they started working with the other ship intelligent people. Tia had moved back to stand by Nami so she wouldn't get in the way. This caused Mr. 9 to start complaining. He was shut up quickly by Nami.

"Here's a great chance to show you how to work a ship, so you can help out in the future" Nami said to Tia, who nodded in return, and watched what the others did closely, and then joined in. Learn by doing and such.

"Catch the wind from the right side! We'll use it to turn the ship around 180 degrees to the left! Usopp, you take the jib sail! ("Got it!") Sanji, you take the rudder! ("JUST LEAVE IT TO ME, NAMI-SWAN!") And be quiet!"

"Hey, wait! The winds just changed!" Usopp said from his position.

"That can't be!" Nami said.

"As, the first breeze of spring" Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday commented as a warm breeze blew past.

"WHAT!?"

"Zoro, wake up! We're in an emergency!"

"Hey, I see a dolphin jumping over there! Let's go check it out!"

"You just stay quiet!"

"The waves are getting higher!" Usopp said, leaning over the rail a bit.

"Iceberg spotted at 10 o'clock! And now there's fog!" Tia reported what she could see.

"What is wrong with this ocean!" Nami yelled.

Zoro continued on sleeping through this chaos.

"We just grazed the iceberg!"

"There's water leaking in the lower deck!" Luffy told Nami.

"Hurry up and seal it!" Nami shouted

"On it!" Usopp to the rescue.

"The clouds are moving too fast!" Nami commented.

"Raise the sails! The winds are too strong!"

"Everyone eat up and energize!" Sanji said, bringing out a platter of rice balls. Everyone moving grabbed a few and started eating. Luffy grabbed many. Tia started singing an energizing lyric less song as she helped as much as she could to keep all their energies up.

"Got it"

"You're eating too much!"

"On no! The sail's tearing!"

"We've got another leak on the lower deck!"

"Dammit!"

"Nami, where's the compass pointing now!?"

"It changed again!"

"Whaaat!?"

After an unknown amount of time, the weather calmed down and they were on track again. Tia, along with everyone else, was lying on the deck, exhausted. That was when Zoro decided to wake up.

*YAAAAWWWWWNNN*

"Ah, that was a nice nap. Hm? Hey, come on now. I know the weather's nice and warm but don't you think you're being a bit too lazy?" Zoro asked the other crew members and the free loaders. "Are you sure we're going the right way?"

'_You son of a….!' _went through everyone's mind. Tia tiredly pushed herself up into a seated position. Zoro then noticed the two free loaders.

"And why're you two on our ship?" He asked.

"You noticed now!?" The two moochers asked.

"We're headed towards their town right now" Luffy answered Zoro, since no one else would.

"What, so we're giving them a ride? It's not like we're obligated to or anything" Zoro said to Luffy.

"I know" Luffy answered. He was sitting on a railing, clapping his feet together. He was still full of energy, how Tia didn't know.

"Hmm… There's something sinister about your faces… what did you say your name's where again…?" Zoro asked, kneeling down in front of Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday. The two flinched in fear and Tia felt slightly sorry for them. Zoro can be scary when he wanted to be.

After the two said their names, Zoro put on a thoughtful look.

"Right… something about those names have been bugging me ever since I heard'em… I feel like I've heard it before… or not…" It seemed like Zoro was half teasing them and half serious. That's what it look to Tia. Zoro continued, having no idea of the angry girl walking up behind him.

"Well, in any case- !_!_**!_!_**!"

"**Did you have a **_**nice**_** nap!? You wouldn't wake up no matter how hard we tired…!**" Nami-turned-devil hit Zoro in the back of the head and proceeded to speaking in anger. Tia winced with sympathy.

"Huh?" Zoro asked, half way turning toward Nami. He looked mad.

(A few punches later)

"Don't let your guards down, everyone! You can never expect what might happen out here!" Nami said having won her short match with Zoro, whose head now had several painful looking lumps. "I finally understand just how terrifying this ocean truly is, as well as why they call it the Grand Line! I understand because _all_ of my navigation skills have failed to work!"

"uhh… are we gonna be fine?" Usopp asked the ever worried.

"We'll be fine! Things will work out one way or the other. And as proof of that, look…!" Nami said, pointing ahead of them. "The first leg of our journey is over."

"IT'S AN ISLAND!"

"I SEE GIANT CACTI!"

Tia stood up, smiling. They had finally reached their first island in the Grand Line. She couldn't wait to see what it was like!


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello, everyone! I'm really sorry for taking so long with this update! It's my exam week, so I'm very busy, as well as those other weeks before when I didn't update was schoolwork and such. As a treat, I'm posting a chapter to my other story One Piece Adventure as well as posting this one. My space bar also seems to be sticking o.o. **

**Girl-luvs-manga: I want Tia to seem quiet and reserved for now. Later, she'll get more open. Yes, I agree. Nami is that character. **

**kage kitsume 14: Thank you! **

**I don't own One Piece or the idea of demons with tails.**

**Special thanks to all of you who have favorited/altered this story or me as an authour. You're all wonderful!**

**A great thanks to those who have read & reviwed, or just read. You are all great!**

* * *

"So this is Whiskey Peak! Thank god we've arrived alive!" Luffy said from his perch on Merry's figurehead. The others had gathered around him, watching as the island drew closer. Tia smiled excitedly to herself, her tail wagging quickly. Usopp noticed her tail and started freaking out.

"AH! TIA! YOU'RE TAIL! You have to hide it" Usopp pointed at said thing. Tia looked at him, blinking, then bolted off, heading for the girl's bedroom. About a few seconds later, she was back, tail and ears hidden. She had missed Mr. 9's and Mrs. Wednesday's departure, but she didn't feel sad about it.

"They're gone…"

"Just what is up with those two…"

"FORGET ABOUT'EM! PREPARE TO LAND!"

"There's a river right up ahead. Looks like we can dock inland" Nami said, pointing out the river mouth. At this point, Usopp started freaking about monsters and such. Sanji didn't help when he commented that there was a good possibility of monsters being there. Luffy just said they could run away. Nami started talking about the Log Pose. Tia tuned her out and started thinking about her race. Would she meet one of her own on this island? If she did, would that person attack, or just want to talk? What would happen if she had to fight one of her own kind? Well, she never was around her kind before, so that shouldn't be a problem but still…

Tia shook her head to stop thinking about it.

"Well, we'll worry about it when it happens. So let's just go already!" Luffy said, smiling. Tia blinked, and then sweat dropped. It almost seemed to her as if he was answering her mental questions when he was really answering Usopp. It was still kinda creepy.

"It'd be weird not to go in when there's a river in front waiting for us!" Luffy yelled.

"For you, maybe…" Nami said, hands on her hips.

"No, what he says is right. There's no use in worrying about is so let's just go" Zoro put in.

"I'll protect you, Nami-San, Tia-Chan" Sanji said with his thumb up.

"H-hey guys… Listen… I uh… I think I've suddenly developed a can't-enter-islands disease" Usopp said, shaking and sweating in fear.

"… Find. Let's go in then."

"I'm serious, guys. My can't ente-"

"Ready? Be prepared to fight or run away at a moment's notice."

Tia leaned forward, trying to see through the thick fog, her hand on her sword. She could hear voices coming from the island as the Merry sailed down the river.

"I can hear people. But this fog's too thick to see them. Tia, can you see anything?"

"Only shapes and figures"

"PEOPLE!? YOU SURE IT'S PEOPLE!?"

There was some yelling from the people on land. Tia gripped her sword, ready to draw it if they were attacked. She was not expecting the welcome that they got. Not at all.

"WELCOME! TO THE TOWN OF WELCOMEING, WHISKEY PEAK!"

The people where cheering loudly, yelling welcomes. Tia was very confused at this welcome, as where the other pirates.

"Oh?" Luffy said, sounding pleased. Of course, he wouldn't be worried or confused.

"Huh? Not only are there no monsters, but there're people greeting us" Usopp said in confusion, no longer scared.

"What's going on…?" Sanji asked, looking wary.

The cheering continued. Tia knew something wasn't right with this. Since when did people welcome pirates? She opened her mouth, ready to say something about it, when her eyes caught Zoro's. He shook his head slightly. Tia closed her mouth and nodded slightly in return. He was telling her to not worry about it and that they'd deal with whatever came their way.

Sanji lost his wariness when he saw all the girls on the land.

"T-there's a bunch of lovely ladies too!" Sanji said his eyes and cigarette smoke turning into hearts.

"Talk about a warm welcome! Looks like pirates really _are_ the people's heroes!" Usopp said as he gave air kisses to the people.

"YAHOO!" Luffy yelled his arms in the air.

They docked and once they were on land, a guy with majorly curly hair walked up to them.

"Welg- Ahem! Ma-ma-maa~! Welcome. My name is Igarappoi. You may be a little shocked at the welcome, but this is Whiskey Peak, a town of liquor and music. Hospitality is our middle name. If it's fine liquor you want, we have an ocean's worth. So please I cordially invite you to our banquet and hope that you may entread- Ahem! Ma-ma-maa~! Entreat us with tales of your adventures." The curly haired name, Igarappoi, said.

Luffy mumbled something about Igarappoi's hair.

There was a moment of silence, and then Luffy, Sanji and Usopp slung an arm over one another shoulders and yelled "GLADLY!" To Igarappoi's invite. Luffy then detached from the other two and ran over to Tia with a wide grin.

"Come on! Let's go party!" He said and grabbed Tia's hand. With that, he started pulling Tia with him over to where the party would be.

"Huh? Hey! Wait a second!" Tia protested, but it fell on deaf ears. Plus Luffy wouldn't let go. With a sign, Tia decided to go along with it. Why not have a little fun?

"ALRIGHT! TIME FOR A PARTY!"

The party had start and liquor was being handed around along with food. Tia found herself sitting with a bunch of guys fawning over how cute she looked (was she cute?) and she had no idea how to react. Every time she got a compliment, she'd get all flustered, her face going red and she'd start stammering. This just caused some of the girls that where cooing over her to fawn even more. A mug of liquor was pushed into her hand and without thinking about it, she drank from it.

Looking around, she noticed Usopp telling his tales to girls and men. He somehow got the girls to swoon over him and the men to raise their glasses in respect, Zoro and Nami where in a drinking contest, Luffy was eating like a starving man and Sanji was flirting with 20 girls.

A plate of food was pushing in front of her and more liquor was poured into her glass. Without thinking it through, she ate and drank. The food tasted strange to her, but she didn't stop to think about it. This was a party after all.

The welcoming party continued on. Tia kept drinking and talking now more openly with the men and women around her. All rational thought had left her. She talked about her past, how bad her childhood was. She even showed her pointed ears and tail. How many glassed of liquor had she drank down? She had lost count after 12.

After an undeterred amount of time, Tia started to get sleepy. A few seconds later, she fainted. After, the other pirates followed, partying all the energy out of themselves. Tia didn't notice the other people leaving as she slowly dropped into dream land.

The first thing Tia felt was the cool breeze. It felt good on her flushed face. She lay there for a few seconds, just relishing the feel of the wind on her face and the grass under her. Wait… grass?

Tia opened her eyes to see a blue sky. She blinked, starting. Where was she? She wasn't in the party house at whiskey peak anymore. In fact, she wasn't in a house at all. It took a few seconds, but when it finally clicked, she bolted upright, only for her world to tilt to the side and with a cry, she fell onto her back.

As she waited for the world to stop spinning, she heard a giggle come from somewhere on her left. Slowly looking that way, she saw the Dream Demon.

"Eh. Dream Demon?" Tia asked slowly, her words slurring.

"It looks like you got really drunk!" Dream Demon giggled. Tia blinked slowly at the girl demon. The world started to right itself and Tia was able to sit up. "It is great, is it not? Having a body like we do" Dream Demon giggled some more.

"This is a dream?" Tia asked, just to make sure.

"Yes. We share dreams now. Every time you go to sleep, I'll be here" Dream Demon said, smiling. Tia sweat dropped. "Anyway, I am sure you have questions about yourself, about your race so ask away! I will answer as many as I can!"

Tia thought for a second, and then asked "You've called me a Great Demon before. What 's a Great Demon?"

"If you want me to explain that, I will have to start from the beginning. First off, I will tell you the legend passed down through our people. It goes like this:

_A long time ago, there was a race of holy people, ruled by 12 different warriors. Each warrior had his own color to represent him. They lived in peace, until a dark force attacked the people. The 12 warriors stood against the darkness. After a long and hard battle, the 12 was able to win. However, the dark force used the last of its power to change the people from holy being to beings of darkness, in other words, demons. The now turned demons had to flee to an island, where they made their home, far away from humans. When the people got to the island, the 12 died from their wounds. Taking pity on the leaderless race, the sea devil made 12 devil fruits with the powers of the ones who died. The people, from then on, waited for their new leaders._"

"That was where our people came from. As that old legend had mostly explained, Great Demons are the 12 rulers of our people. The power they hold depends on the color of their flames. Since your flames are blue, you would be the second hand to the queen, whose flames are white" Dream Demon finished. Tia was silent, letting what she just heard sink in. Something didn't seem right, though. If there was a queen, then how could the other 11 Great Demons be rulers as well?

"If there's a queen, then how could the other 11 be rulers?" Tia asked, trying to work it out in her head.

"The queen is called that just for symbolism. She's not really the queen, but it comforts our people to have one" Dream Demon said. Tia nodded to herself.

"Um, do you know about a flute?" Tia asked, her face going a bit red.

"A flute? Ah, you are talking about a demon flute, correct?" Dream Demon asked. Tia nodded.

"It is an instrument for us demons to practice using our flame on. Have you tried to blow through it?" Tia nodded. Dream Demon started laughing.

"HAHAHAHAHA! Oh, that is too funny… you do not blow into it to make it play! You use your flame!" Tia started blankly at Dream demon, not sure what she meant.

"Oh, that is right! I keep forgetting! You know nothing about our race. I will have to educate you from scratch, then. But that will have to wait. Now would be a good time to wake up!" Dream Demon said, nodding to herself.

"Huh? Wait! What's your name?" Tia asked, even though she could feel herself waking up.

Dream Demon smiled and said "I will tell you that only when you become a strong Great Demon" and with that, the dream world melted away as Tia rose into the waking world.


End file.
